


Cover It Up With Makeup

by pegyunicorn



Series: Crystal Cove V.I.P. rooms [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 12:20:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20527934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pegyunicorn/pseuds/pegyunicorn
Summary: Some times we hide our flaws and past under a lot of cosmetics.Perri and Lapis have began their relationship only to have forces from all sides try and tear it apart. The bonds between them hard enough hold? Follow a series of dumb jokes occasionally hiding a punch right to the feels. As a nerd dates a stripper and tries to run the strip club and dealing with a lot off issues from her friends and family.Sequel to 'How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Pole' Aka 'I regret making the title so long'. Probably need to read that one first before you read this.





	1. It Started With a Picture

With a fresh cup of coffee in one hand and some paperwork in the other Pearl walked into the office. “Good morning.” She said to the woman across the room and behind the desk who stifled a yawn. 

The woman waved Pearl over and offered to the seat in front of her. Pearl took her seat and handed the coffee over to her boss and waited a few moments for her employer to take a sip and let the initial rush of caffeine hit her. Once she saw the other woman shake the drowsiness from from her mind she placed the papers down on the desk between them. “Here are the reports you requested, Mrs. Diamond.”

Yvette Diamond took the forms and gave them a look. “What's the schedule for today?" The executive asked without looking up.

Yelvah Pearl began listening off the events planned for the day "You have a meeting with the regional managers at 0700 hours till 0900 hours then at 1000 hours the city council representative will be here to discuss the expansion of the Beta facility. That meeting is expected to last till 1300 hours due to the environmental concerns they have expressed previously. If the meeting is complete approximately in that time frame you have lunch with Mrs. Diamond-"

Yvette interrupted. "My wife or my mother?"

"Your wife ma'am. After that you will tour the Alpha facility and meet with the managers till 1700 hours ma'am at which time Mrs. Diamond, your mother this time, wants you to come by her house after work and see the new painting she purchased. It's by Gerhard Richter, he is considered the most expensive living artist."

Yvette groaned and rubbed her temples. "Of course like mother would ever settle for anything less. Anything come up that may throw a wrench in the works?"

Yelvah Pearl felt some sweat form on here forehead like one of her sister's anime she always insisted they watch when a character is nervous. "Possibly ma'am. What do you think about this woman here?" 

Yvette Diamond watched her secretary pull out her phone and after a few taps it was passed to her. She looked at it for a few moments not really understanding what she was supposed to be seeing. It looked like a normal woman's social media profile with blue hair and far to many pictures of her hanging out in shady looking clubs with alcohol. Now Yvette was no stranger to alcohol but she drink champagne or wine socially not as in one picture cheap rum from some Latina women's cleavage. Eventually she also noted the woman job was listed as 'exotic dancer'. 

Yvette handed the phone back to her secretary. "Just a common harlot as far as I can tell. Why show me her?" 

The yellow Pearl pushed the phone back across the desk. "Look at her most recent photo and who she is in a relationship with."

The Diamond rolled her eyes but humored her employee, Ms. Pearl knew better than to waste her time so she must have some kind of a point. She went to the most recent photo and saw her and a blonde woman cuddled to bed obviously naked but the sheets hide anything inappropriate. It was cute admittedly and Yvette laughed. "You know the other girl reminds me of my daughter." 

Yelvah cringed and tried to let the chair swallow her. She managed a very forced laugh.

Yvette either didn't notice or just didn't care. She checked the name of the other girl and immediately went pale. She forced herself to hand the yellow secretary before grabbing her coffee cup and throwing it against the window wall looking out over the New York skyline cursing that the cup was humble foam and not a more satisfying ceramic that would've shattered. "Ms. Pearl cancel my appointments for today and as many of the following days as possible. Also book me and my wife a plane to where this woman lives."

"That would be Atlanta ma'am. She works at a club called the Crystal Cove." Pearl squeaked.

"Good work Ms. Pearl. I'm not about to let some slut take advantage of my daughter. I will deal with this." Yvette said storming out her office and walking down parting Diamond Corp employees like a school of fish part for a shark. She marched to a second office belonging to another Mrs Diamond. Right as she was about to reach the door a woman with blue hair and bangs covering her eyes walked out. Yvette watched as the soft spoken woman wiped tears from her eyes. "Ms. Pearl, is my wife aware of our daughter's new relationship?" 

Belle Diamond's secretary Bethany Pearl almost jumped out of her skin not having noticed Yvette. She turned and awkwardly stood at attention like she was speaking to a higher ranking military officer than an employer. "Yes Mrs Diamond. Me and my sister learned at the same time and we agreed to tell you each this morning."

"I assume the news made my dear wife cry since you crying as well." Yvette assumed knowing Belle looked like a kicked puppy when sad causing anyone nearby to involuntary sob session.

"Yes ma’am.”

Yvette rubbed her temples trying to ease the headache she felt coming on. “Give her a few minutes then try and cheer her up.”

Bethany Pearl hesitated before speaking up. “... Maybe it would be best if you spoke to her?” She offered in a meek voice.

“I would but I need to prepare for our trip to Atlanta to deal with this. I don’t have time to deal with Belle’s drama.” Yvette said walking off. “I need to go deal with my daughter’s mess. Whatever you do, however don’t tell my mother.”

As the Diamond and Pearl left neither noticed a woman only one eye who seemed to float across the room with silent footfalls send an email to her boss with the picture in question attached.

Whitney Diamonds watched amused as her daughter stalked the halls like a thunderstorm on her computer’s connection to the security cameras wondering what had upset her so when she received an email from her secretary. She smiled upon seeing the picture. “My dear sweat Starlight, you didn’t tell your grandmother you had a girlfriend.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the apple to the peach behind a cheap desk that has had many repairs done to it reclined a huge woman leaning back in the office chair as far as it would allow, feet on the desk, a bottle of beer in her hand just a few inches off the floor and her eyes closed. She looked to be asleep but looks can be deceiving. 

Two people walked into the office pointing and whispering to each other. They both tried to push the other ahead of them between them and the tiger they were afraid to wake.

"You tell her." One harshly whispered. 

"Fuck that, you do it." Came the reply in a similar tone.

Unbeknownst to them the tiger was awake and was listening to the two's back and forth of "you do it"s and "no you"s till she began to get annoyed.

"What the fuck do you two want? Didn't I tell you not to bother me till my third bottle at least." The woman with tiger striped skin.

Sugilite and Malachite looked back and forth before Malachite shoved Sugilite forward.

"Sugilite. Got something to share?" The tigress growled.

The muscular woman gulped before stepping up. “Y-yeah Jasper, it’s about that girl you wanted us to keep an eye on.”

Jasper leaned forward glaring at Sugilite. “I told you her name is Perri.”

“Yeah P-Perri that’s her. Anyway we saw this on her snapchat.” Sugulite said handing her phone over to Jasper. 

Jasper took one look at the picture. Perri had just posted an update a picture of her and the caption read ‘Me and my new amazing girlfriend after a *Really* goodnight.’ followed by a winky face emoji. Jasper looked at the other woman. “Lapis.” She growled. Before throwing the phone across the room much to Sugilite’s dismay. Jasper grabbed a leather jacket off a coat rack covered in patches and on the back a diamond emblem. Above the emblem was the name ‘Homeworld M.C’ and below it was ‘Jasper’ below the name ‘President’. Once Jasper had that and her helmet she marched by the other two who wore matching jackets. “I’m going for a ride. Make sure no one disturbs me.” She ordered.

The two saluted as Jasper walked out into the dingy bar. As she walked by, she noticed a woman at the bar about to light up a cigarette. “Hey Topaz. Mind if I bum a smoke off you?” 

Topaz hesitated but wordlessly pulled out the pack. Jasper took one. Topaz watched her stick it in her mouth and pat her pockets. “Need a light?” She asked holding out her’s.

Jasper lit up and walked off mumbling “Thanks.” She took a long drag holding it till she was out the door. She exhaled, letting the smoke laziling drifting up into the atmosphere as Jasper sank back against the brick wall. “Fuck… damn I needed that.” moaned orgaismicly as the nicotine eased her nerves. She walked over to her bike a sunburst orange Indian Dark Horse polishing off her cigarette and tossing it on the pavement as she threw her leg over her seat. Once the bike roared to life she put on a pair of sunglasses and tore off into the sunrise. She needed to clear her mind and find a solution to Perri and Lapis’ relationship. 

Once upon a time her and Perri had been best friends then that turned into lovers. Hell she was the one who took Perri’s virginity. When she had went with Sugilite, Malachite and Obsidian to get some answers as to who left tread marks all over the Broken Spoke’s parking lot she’d just wanted to scare Lapis a little. Never did she imagine she’d run into her old flame hell she didn’t even recognize her at first, if she had she wouldn't have let the others get so rough with her. Hell she was about to break them up as it was getting a bit too violent, again she just wanted to scare Lapis not hurt anyone, when she heard that familiar word. 

“Clod.” She whispered into the roaring wing that she tore threw on her bike. She remembered how Perri looked and a smile came to the biker’s face. “That bitch’s ass has gotten even hotter.” Still there was no way Jasper was letting Perri and Lapis stay together but she’d need a plan and to think of one she’d relax and nothing calmed her like a nice ride. With that thought Jasper headed of the crowded city and onto rural roads to spend a nice day cruising around the countryside. Once she returned she’d start work on driving a wedge between her exes. After all Jasper was good at tearing people apart. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a nice quiet part of the city, as quiet as can be expected, a woman stood in front of an old friend. She smiled sadly. “Hey pal. It’s been a long time.”

Her friend didn’t reply.

The woman stepped closer. “Aw don’t be like that. I’m not mad. I just heard you were living down here and thought we could catch up.” 

Again the friend was silent. 

“You seriously going to give me the silent treatment ey? That’s not fair. Maybe if it had been the other way around, but you’re the one who ABANDONED ME!”

Still silence.

The woman got angry. “You ditched me! Like yesterday’s garbage! I came here to tell you how much I hate you! Now that I’m here you won’t even give me a fucking chance!” She soon began laughing. Slowly her laughing turned into sobbing as she sank down to her knees and wrapped her arms around her friend “Really though I just wanted to go back to being friends. To making you laugh. To seeing you smile. That's all I really wanted. I chased down every lead to find you. I was going to beg you to forgive me even though I didn’t do anything wrong. So please, please talk to me. Please.” She begged trying to cuddle her friend despite the cold and the sharp sides. As her tears dripped down the cold stone and ran down into the engraving. ‘Rose Quartz’ “Penny. You can’t be dead,” the girl said breaking into more sobbing. 

Pearl watched as the girl sobbed into the tombstone in the nearly empty cemetery. She sighed and pulled out her phone to text Perri quickly. 

‘I apologize for any inconvenience but I fear I may be late tonight or even have to be absent entirely. I bumped into an old friend how is just now learning of Rose’s death. I took her to the cemetery to see her grave. If you need anything Garnet can fill in for me, she knows my responsibilities and how to complete them. Again I apologize for this.’

She soon received a text back. ‘Don’t worry Pearl be there for your friend that's far more important.’ Perri had sent.

Pearl nodded and walked over to the sobbing girl and hugged her as best she could.


	2. Roll Credits

"Fuck!" 

"Babe."

"Fuck! Fuck!"

"Babe."

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuuuuccccckkkkkk!"

"Perri!" Lapis yelled as she grabbed the pacing nerd and pulled her into a hug. "Chill. Ok babe. Look you got this."

Perri tried to wriggle out of the hug. "I have had one day of training. One, Lazuli. I can not run this club on my own."

"You won't have to. Garnet fills in for Pearl whenever she's out." Lapis reassured. 

Perri glared at her. "I've known Pearl for a week and I can tell pigs fly with more frequency than she misses work. Has she ever missed a day?"

"She has." Lapis said confidently. "When Rose died she was out for a mouth mourning."

Perri jaw dropped before she grabbed Lapis by the shoulders. "That was sixteen years ago. Are you telling me that Pearl hasn't missed a day in sixteen years! That's the opposite of reassuring!"

"Look babe you got this Garnet is trained to fill in even if she's never had to do it. Plus I promise I'll help you how I can." Lpais promised.

"No offense but you'll be busy dancing what can you do to help?" Perri asked skeptically.

"I can keep Amethyst under control. Believe me, that's like half of Pearl's workload. Plus everyone knows what to do so just trust us to do what we do. We run like a well oiled machine. If we didn't Pearl wouldn't be able to dance on top of being the manager." Lapis said.

Perri was silent processing it all. She'd been a nervous wreck since hearing her Pearl, the glue that had held the club together since Rose death would be out. Perri understood of course even her own stick in the mud workaholic mother was very understanding when it came to employees dealing with death. Probably because of losing Aunt Penny who may as well have been dead to the Diamonds the second she ran away. Still even if she understood it didn't it didn't mean tonight would be easy. Pearl had told her last night it took weeks to train a manger and mouths before they were really competent. Still even if the Pearl only found time to perform on stage due to her likely unhealthy love for working it proved her daily routine was humanly possible. "Maybe I am overreacting." Perri conceded.

"Maybe just a little but if I had known Pearl would be out i wouldn't have worn you out." Lapis said smiling.

"Please that was nothing for me I have a libido like a rabbit on ecstasy." Perri said pretending she wasn't standing on quivering legs. "Still I suppose we should get dressed so you can have a chance to rest up. Plus I need to get myself physicked up for tonight."

Lapis laughed while removing the strap on she was wearing. "Playing tough eh? That's fine it just encourages me to fuck you till you can't take it anymore and have to tell stop so you can rest. I'll need to work on my core though." Lapis got up to leave the bed for the first time today beside a few bathroom breaks and snack runs during their all day fuck-fest.

"Do you want a towel or something to wear down to your locker?" Perri asked the naked woman.

"Nah it won't be the first time I’ve wandered around backstage naked." And with that the dancer left Perri's apartment. 

Almost as soon as Lapis was out the door Perri began to feel the anxiety creep back in. She knew she needed to be confident but that had never really been her strong suit. She'd need to make decisions and talk to the employees as well as "Eugh the customers" Perri groaned with a shiver. She'd never worked in anything that dealt with customers, being rich had its perks, but she'd heard some horror stories.

Perri felt her anxiety raise as she imagined the entitled forty something soccer moms complaining about the dumbest shit. Soon her mind was running with all manners of worst case scenarios. Her chest felt tight and the room around her felt like it was closing in. She tried to remember Lapis' encouragement. "I can do this. I can do this." She watched helpless as more and more scenarios played out in her mind each ending with her actions dooming the club to a horrible end. "I can't do this." She said on the very verge of a full on panic attack. 

Suddenly a thought passed through the maelstrom in her head. The storm calmed as she focused on that thought. The beginnings of a plan. "I can't do this but I know who can." 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lapis was standing naked in the dressing room trying to put together an appropriately sexy outfit out of the spare clothes she kept in her locker. She'd done this before having run late from being passed out from a night of drinking on usually Amethyst couch and not having had time to head to her home. She was considering whether tonight felt more like a thong or g-string kinda night when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. 

"Perri? That you babe?" Lapis called. Normally she'd not be to worried Garnet worked hard to make sure everyone felt safe in the club. Still ever since she'd done burnouts outside of the Broken Spoke bar she'd been on edge. Plus she'd thought she saw long white hair. She walked slowly over to the door to peek out of the dressing room into the hallway. As she looked to the right something grabbed her from the left.

"What's up slut?" 

Lapis acting on instinct threw a punch towards the sound and felt her fist connect to someone's face.

"Ah! Hijo de perra! What the hell Lapis."

Lapis, now not blinded by fear recognized the voice plus the person she thought it was didn't speak Spanish. "Amethyst! Fuck don't sneak up on me like that!"

Amethyst groaned covering her eye. "Jesus fuck you're jumpy today." Amethyst was pissed at getting punched in the face till she saw Lapis was legit afraid. Sure she wanted to scare her but just a a dumb jump scare this was legit psychological fear. "Hey whats up?" She asked switching from prankster to therapist with practiced ease. 

Lapis took some deep breaths to calm down. "I saw you out of the corner of my eye but I only saw your hair." 

Amethyst understood. "Hey Lapis it's okay. You know she wouldn't ever be dumb enough to come here after what Garnet did to her last time. She's scared shitless of this place."

"Yeah you're right. I'm just jumpy like you said. Ever since my little joy ride with Perri I've been hearing motorcycles outside my apartment." Lapis admitted.

"Fuck for real?" Amethyst asked.

"Might just be my imagination but it seems that way. I haven't seen anyone wearing the club's patches but she's smart enough to have them take not wear patches in cases like that." Lapis further explained. 

"I'll ask around see what she's up to." Amethyst said.

"If you want, I'm just going to ignore it. She's all bark anyway besides things are looking up for me I definitely don't want to drag myself down thinking about… Jasper." Lapis said spitting the name like it tasted bad on her tongue.

"I can tell you've got bite marks all over your body. I take it your no longer single." Amethyst asked. 

"You're right. I am now in an official relationship with a woman named Perri Diamond." Lapis bragged.

"Perri Diamond you said? Aw I hate to break it to you but I think I had sexy with a Perri Diamond." Amethyst said pretending to be nervous.

"I know Perri has been with other women before me but I refuse to be jealous of some trollope from her past." Lapis said with dignity that was undermined by her sticking her tongue out at Amethyst.

"Trollope what are you a eighteen hundreds nobel lady? Seriously I know that girl fucks like a pro but I didn't get here an hour early just to make Pearl proud of me. Give me all the juicy gossip." Amethyst said bouncing excitedly at the prospect of gossip. Lapis knew a whispered secret would be a better bribe to the shorter woman than a crisp hundred dollar bill. 

"I will happily tell you everything." She paused and let Amethyst take the bait. "Under one condition." Amethyst face dropped. "Pearl is out so Perri is going to have to step up and take charge and she is freaking out about it. So till Pearl gets back none of your usual shenanigans."

"None of them?" Amethyst asked in horror.

"None." Lapis firmly asserted.

"No sword fights with the mops and brooms?"

"Nope, not tonight."

"No sliding down the stairs in a cardboard box?"

"Definitely not. Perri would die if she saw a hole in the wall like the last time we did that."

"No butt chugging?"

Lapis grabbed the Latina as her face turned red. "You promised to never mention the butt chugging incident. We got super lucky the folks at that church didn't press charges."

Amethyst laughed. "Oh shit. Do you remember the donkey that you…"

Lapis cut her off. "We don't mention the butt chugging incident! Perri can never learn about that night. I will die of embarrassment if she dose."

"Nah she'd think it was hilarious. That's the only reason I won't tell her that ass is a work of art. It's too nice to have her laugh it off."

Lapis glared at her friend till Amethyst laughter died down. "You done?"

"Sorry girl but that night was crazy. It always cracks me up when I think about it. Still you said Pearl was out? Shit who died?" Amethyst asked only partially joking. She couldn't think of anything else that would tear Pearl away from her job.

"Rose all over again. Her text said she bumped into an old friend who just now learn Rose died and isn't taking it well. That's all I know." 

"Damn. You think she'll be back tomorrow?" Amethyst asked.

Lapis shrugged. "I'd be surprised if she wasn't but I was surprised when Perri got her text today. I honestly don't know but if she isn't I don't know how I'll keep Perri from losing her mind."

"Yeah I don't know if Perri can handle this for real. I mean Garnet isn't exactly a people person herself. Remember when she told Connie's mom the kids were dead and not to call back because she panicked?" Amethyst pointed out. 

Lapis shuddered she remembered how furious Dr. Maheswaran was. "Yeah let's hope we don't have a repeat of that with one of the customers. Lets just support her however we can and hope for the best."

"Yeah but let's also plan for the worst just in case." Amethyst said to which Lapis nodded. "Anyway let's get you dressed and I need to check my face out. If it bruises I'll have to try and cover it up with makeup.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote most of this on my phone at work so sorry if it has a few more spelling mistakes than normal. anyway things are coming together and I'm excited about all the things I got planed. I think this story will be even more fun to write than the prequel. Anyway hope you all enjoy leave a comment as to what you think.


	3. Raise of Peridot

A truck pulled into the employee parking lot of the Crystal Cove and as the driver got out her text notification sounded. 

*Are you sure you can handle.* The text read.

*Yes* was her reply.

*It’s just it's been almost ten years since I trained you to fill in. Are you sure you don’t mind filling in Garnet?* Another text came in joining dozens of simual texts expressing the same concern. 

*I’m positive Pearl* the woman with the sunglasses sent back. 

Pearl:*Are you at the club?* 

Garnet:*Yes*

Pearl:*Is everything alright?*

Garnet:*IDK I’m still in the parking lot*

Pearl:*Well let me know once you get inside.*

Pearl:*check with Sadie to make sure the bar is stocked first.*

Garnet:*I know*

Pearl:*then ,make sure everyone is there. With the exception of me of course.*

Garnet:*I know*

Pearl: *check that Amethyst wasn’t late again. I doubt Lapis ever left.*

Garnet let the phone continue to beep as Pearl sent text after text as she clocked in to the time clock. She stuffed some things into her locker before pulling out her phone. 

*Twenty new messages from Pearl*

She sent a reply. *Pearl. Focus on your friend. The club will be fine. I'm about to put my phone in my locker.*

Pearl:*Sorry Garnet I got a bit carried away. I'll  
leave you to your job. Text me if you need anything and try to find out details about Perri and Lapis. I don't want to fall behind on the latest gossip.*

Garnet: *K*

After that message sent Garnet put her phone in the locker. Garnet let her shoulder drop as she felt the weight of the responsibilities she had tonight fall onto them. She wasn't as confident as she had lead Pearl to believe. Sure it wasn't like she could ruin the club in one night but she feared Peal may have a few fires to put out tomorrow night. Still so long as no one got hurt she'd count tonight as a success.

"Hey Garnet." She heard Amethyst call out behind her. She turned around and on the other side of the room next to a large mirror was a naked Lapis beside Amethyst who was holding a bag of frozen peas to her face.

"Damn it." She said walking off. 'So long as no one gets seriously hurt, this night will be a success.' She amended in her mind. 

\-------------------------------------------------

Perri stood in front of the mirror tying a green tie. She stood looking at herself in her suit it was perfectly tailored to her body and fit like a glove. She looked perfect, and she hated it. With a growl she started angrily untying the tie. "I look like I'm going to church not running a strip club." She tore off her jacket and started unbuttoning her nice dress shirt. She tore through her closet till eventually she found the perfect shirt. Smiling she grabbed it and put it on and threw her jacket on before tying her tie leaving it lose this time. If she showed up to a formal event dressed like she was she'd be thrown out. "Perfect." She complimented her reflection. 

\-------------------------------------------------

Everyone was called into the small conference room on the second floor of the club as Garnet stood at the front. "Tonight Pearl will be out. She's dealing with some personal things." Garnet said straight and to the point. 

"You mean she has a life outside the club?" Lars teased before a kick to the shin from Saddie shut him up.

"So today if you need anything come to me or Perri." Garnet continued.

Stevonnie awkwardly put their hand up like they were in class waiting till Garnet nodded permission to speak. "Where is Perri?"

At that moment the door opened for as the short nerd entered. Though some things were different her normal glasses replaced with more stylish glasses with a slight green tint her business jacket was unbuttoned showing off the mosaic of anime girls mid orgasm across her shirt and topping it all off was a loose green tie like a businessman may have after a long day. Now she was dressed in a way that may get her past a bouncer if they were feeling lenient but at least it was club attire. "Please from now I'm new woman. Perri was a socially awkward nerd. Now I'm the cool calm club owner, Peridot." She announced. "Now Pearl is out. I know that the absence of our beloved bird-like boss is an unprecedented occurrence, but fear not. We know our roles and we know what to do even if Pearl isn't here she's trained us and she lives on in our hearts." Peridot paused holding her hand over her heart like she was mourning the manager before she snapped her head back up. "Plus she'll probably be back tomorrow so just don't be a clod and burn my club down tonight. Now get out there and make some money off these horny clods."

"Like Peridot said don't screw around. I'm more lenient than Pearl but if you do something I have to get on to you for, well…" Garnet lowered her glasses to glare over the top of them. Her heterochromatic eyes daring someone to try. "It won't be pleasant for either of us."

"Right. Now let's get out there and make our customers happy!" With an exaggerated cheer Perri left the room leading the other employees to shuffle out behind her.

"Perri seemed to be acting differently than normal." Lapis said to Amethyst.

"Yeah but i wouldn't worry, it maybe her simply adapting to a new persona. Carl Jung suggested that people change their persona constantly to better fit in with the social group they are currently in. According to his theories this is not only normal but essential to a healthy inner psyche he called 'the ego'. So long as Perri doesn't let the new persona she is trying on eclipse her true inner ego it should be fine." The short Latina said with a casual shrug.

Lapis stared in disbelief before silently mourning. 'What the fuck?'

"What I played Persona 5. Now let's go see if anyone wants to do shots off my cleavage." Amethyst suggested walking out of the meeting room.

\------------------------------------------------------------

Two sisters dropped down into chairs at a table in an office breakroom high above the grid like streets below. 

"Ugh Mrs. Diamond has been running me all over this damn office. She wants to wrap up as much work as possible before she leaves for Atlanta." Yelvah Pearl complained. "And she's in such a bad mood. She's been a massive bitch since she learned about Perri."

Her sister groaned her hands rubbing her hidden exhausted eyes. "At least your Diamond is still doing stuff. If Belle doesn't stop crying we'll all drown." Bethany grumbled.

"If I knew it would be this much of a hassle I wouldn't have shown her that fucking picture." Yelvah said as her shy sister nodded.

"Ladies." A voice called from the door sending a chill down the sisters spines. "Working hard or hardly working?" It teased as a woman with pale skin, her hair in buns and an eyepatch over her left eye.

Bethany tried to keep her cool. "Oh you know someone has to keep this company running." She tried to play it off with an awkward laugh which seemed to work as their new guest chuckled with them. 

Yelvah calming down took a sip of her water bottle as the third woman asked. "What were you talking about?" Which caused the poor secretary to spit her drink back out.

The sisters panicked as they were told to keep their Diamonds trip a secret from Whitney Diamond and this woman would undoubtedly tell her boss everything they said. They both shouted the first lie that came to mind. Bethany went with "The weather!" While Yelvah chose "Sports!"

The third woman quirked her eyebrows at the contradiction. Bethany acted quickly. "We were talking about how the weather affects sports." She offered.

Yelvah nodded joining in on her sister's lie. "Yeah I wanted to go see a game but they cancelled it due to the weather."

"Ah, I see. That's funny because I thought I heard you talking about Perri's stripper girlfriend." The new girl said casually taking a seat.

Now it was Bethany turn to spit out her water. "Who told you?!" She asked in shock.

"Why you did dear Bethany. I couldn't help but overhear you talking about it with Mrs. Yvette Diamond. I hope you don't mind after all surely you wouldn't keep it a secret from your sister. I'm sure you were just waiting for a time when you could tell me." The third woman said. 

The others blushed they knew she knew it was supposed to be a secret but she was giving them an out and they'd be fools not to take it. "Yeah we just wanted a time like this when we'll all together to tell you Penelope." 

"If course our family has to stick together after all." Penelope told her sisters. "It’s nice we found a chance to talk before you leave. I hope you guys send me some postcards." 

The two sisters looked at her confused. Yelvah was the first to speak up. "We're not going anywhere."

Bethany nodded. "Yes our Diamonds will need us to stay here to handle any work that comes up."

Penelope waved her hand dismissively. "Take your laptops. You two can work from Atlanta. Besides I already approved your girls leave with my Diamond. Mrs Whitney Diamond wanted me to wish you a pleasant flight."

Yelvah's eyes widened. "Flight? What flight."

Penelope pulled out two tickets. "10PM tonight La Guardia. I suggest you both go home and pack as soon as possible. And by that I mean right now."

"You're making us fly to Atlanta?" Yelvah asked in disbelief. 

"You're making us fly out of La Guardia?" Bethany asked in disgust.

"Yes. I need you to do me a favor while you're in town. It won't take long so consider the rest of your time down there a vacation." Penelope told them.

"What is this favor?" Bethany asked.

Penelope pulled out her phone which was already on a picture of Perri's new girlfriend but instead of looking at her or the Latina she was dancing on top of a table with she looked at a grumpy looking woman in the background. "Simple. Just go to Perri's club and ask to speak to the manager." Penelope smirked.

\------------------------------------------------------

Yvette Diamond worked neatly packing clothes into suitcases as she tried to ignore her wife's silent crying. She chanced a glance at Belle who was staring at her phone. Yvette looked at the phone and saw a picture of the day they adopted Perri. She felt tears welling up but keep working hoping her practiced packing rituals would keep her distracted. "Are we bad parents?" Belle asked still staring at her phone. 

Yvette wasn't sure if the question was directed at her or the digital image of Perri but decided to answer regardless. "I don't think so." She said. They loved Perri and always there when they needed her. They were there when she was kicked out of college and managed to convince the school to give her an honorary degree. They were when she had to go to rehab due to quickly becoming addicted to alcohol to the point where she was drunk almost constantly for weeks at a time, there the ones who got her into that fancy rehab facility in the Bahamas. They were there when her brute of a girlfriend got into arguments. They were always there when she needed them.

"Then do you think we were good parents?" Belle asked.

Yvette thought about how they weren't there when Perri got an actual degree from a different college by taking online classes. They weren't there when Perri came home from rehab sober. They weren't there when she realized her relationship with her ex was toxic and broke up. Not to mention all the school events and birthdays that they heard about from Skype calls from across the world. Yvette knew lying to Belle would only make her more upset and she doubted she could speak anyway. Instead the strong Diamond cracked under the pressure and dropped her head in her hands and started to sob.

Belle hugged her wife. "I didn't think so either."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I dissapeared for so long but I keep setting down and trying to type this up only to go blank and not be able to come up with anything. This was first going to be two chapters but I combined them and switched there orders. the scenes in the club were one chapter and the scenes with the other Pearls and the Diamonds were the other. Nothing major happened so I combined them. It may not be much going on but its setting up some dominoes.


	4. Come Together

“All right give it up for Lapis Lazuli folks.” Amethyst said into her microphone while taking the stage as Lapis finished her dance. “All right folks, all good things must come to an end and tonight is no exception. I need to go home and masturbate and most of you should do the same. Pound back you drinks and say your goodbyes but come back soon and we’ll do it again.” With that she walked off stage and over to Perri collapsed on a couch backstage. “You look exhausted.”

Perri nodded. “Tonight was hell.”

Amethyst laughed. “Hey I went easy on you newbie I didn’t even act crazy tonight. I was a fucking saint.”

“Geez thanks for not acting like a child.” Perri said sarcastically. 

“You’re welcome. You got any plans today.” Amethyst asked. 

“No, I kinda want to get out of the club though.” Perri said. “Unfortunately Lapis is busy and I don’t want to be too clingy anyway. I mean she spent all day with me yesterday.”

“Yeah, I feel you. I got plans to I was just curious. You could go to a park or something, can’t be much green in New York but we’ve got plenty here. ‘City In a Forest’ is one of Atlanta’s nicknames.”

Perri hummed. “Yeah that would be nice, weathers supposed to be pretty nice. I think I’ll close up and then rest up and then head for a few hours before we open.” 

“If you need any advice for where the best places in town is just text me.” Amethyst told her.

“What about your plans?” Perri asked.

“I’m going to go meet up with a friend.” Amethyst said checking her phone. “Well shit, it’s quitting time so I’m out of here boss.”

Perri limply waved a tired hand to the woman.

Amethyst went to her house and changed into something more socially acceptable than stripper clothes. When she left again walking past her usual muscle car and instead over to a shed and after unlocking it she rolled out a custom motorcycle. She grabbed a leather jacket off a hook in the shed. Across the back was her stage name that had become more familiar than the one she was born with and the logo of the 'Homeworld M.C' and next to that her rank within the club 'Vice-president'.

Thanks to traffic it took her about an hour to pull into the parking lot of 'The Broken Spoke' parking next to an orange Indian. She strutted in with confidence. She greeted a few friends that she passed before noticing her target sitting at the end of the bar by herself. "Damn Jasper drinking alone again?" She said sitting down next to the large woman.

Jasper turned and smiled at Amethyst. "Shit, if it isn't my unreliable vice-pres. You finally here to help me run this club." Jasper said pulling the other woman into a headlock.

Amethyst pulled herself out of the larger women's grip. "I told you from day one I only wanted the title for the free beer that came with it."

Jasper laughed Amethyst may not be any help but she was fun to hang out with and that's all Jasper really wanted from the club's V.P. "Well in that case let's get you liquored up."

Amethyst had known Jasper long enough to know that it was best to slowly ease into this conversation. She couldn't just ask Jasper if she had been following Lapis, it would just cause the muscular woman to clam up. It felt like playing chess.

Jasper wasn't expecting to talk to Amethyst today but it she could get some information out of her. She just had to be careful not to let the dancer realize why she was asking. It was like playing chess. Jasper decided to make the first move. "So word is you got a new boss." She asked taking polishing off the beer she had been working on and immediately ordering another. 'Hopefully Perri didn't mention getting jumped by a bunch of bikers. Or that were ex-girlfriends.' Jasper thought.

"Yeah her names Perri. She's pretty chill." Amethyst said perfectly obvious to any connection between Perri and Jasper. "She's kinda nerdy but hell i play some video games and I've watched a handful of anime so we have some things in common. Plus she's pretty funny once you get to know her." Amethyst beer was served and she wasted no time knocking back a good bit of the liquid. "Hey, come to think about she's from New York like you."

"Really? Good to know there's another New Yorker here amongst you rednecks." Jasper teased.

"Hey I'm Mexican puta." Amethyst told her. "Anyway she's Penny's niece or something. You ever here about the Diamonds?"

Jasper let herself show the appropriate amount of surprise to make it seem she wasn't already aware of that. "The super rich Diamond family? Yeah I know them. Whitney Diamond owns half of New York and own stock in the rest. Is your new boss a Diamond?"

"Yeah Perri Diamond. Let's hope she got her family's business sense." Amethyst said. "Hey want to know a secret."

Jasper sipped her beer. "You know I love gossip. Hit me."

Amethyst smirked. "She's a freak in bed, I would know, made her cum three times."

Jasper almost choked on her beer. 'Perri fucked Amethyst!? My ex-girlfriend fucked my honorary sister?!' Jasper felt the desire to club the Latina with a bottle but she suppressed that. 'Play it cool Amethyst fucks for fun not for love.' "Damn she's been here less than a month and you've already fucked you boss?"

"Hey If you saw her ass you'd want to fuck her to." Amethyst said laughing.

'Its true Perri has a great ass.' Jasper thought downing more of her beer. 'Wonder if she'll mention that Perri and Lapis are together.' Jasper knew better than to ask straight up. "Are you and her a thing or was it just some fun?"

"Me and Perri? Nah she's with La-" Amethyst eyes widened realizing the beer was already loosening her lips. "I mean it was just some fun." Amethyst phone buzzed and quickly replied to a text. "Sides you know I've had my eye on someone for awhile now." 

Jasper couldn't help smiling things sometimes got tense between her and Amethyst but the dancer was probably her best friend. "Yeah I remember the way your jaw hit the floor when you meet at that car show." Jasper ruffled the short woman's hair. "Who knew you'd be into older chicks."

Amethyst swatted Jasper hand away. "Fuck you. You thought she was hot to." 

Jasper shrugged. "She looked good that day but I think she's not as hot as she used to be. She hasn't really aged but she did a one-eighty in her style."

Amethyst laughed. "You like girls who are bad."

Jasper smiled fondly it was true after all, she wasn't interested in Perri till she saw the nerd blow up when a kid insulted both her for being adopted and her parents being lesbians. Who knew it would take three teachers to rip a girl who weighed less than a hundred pounds soaking wet off a boy almost twice her size. Still Jasper was getting tired of Amethyst messing around she knew why she was here and now was as good of time as any to rip off the bandage. One large swig of her beer then, "Speaking of girls who are bad, at least for me. You wanted to talk about Lapis, seems that's the only reason you come around anymore."

Amethyst downed the rest of her beer before replying. "Yeah, shit I almost forgot once I started drinking." Amethyst paused to remember exactly what she had been planning on saying. "Lapis told me she saw bikers following her. They weren't ours were they?" Amethyst said.

Jasper weighed her options. Of course she'd prefer to lie and not deal with Amethyst's anger. On the other hand Amethyst would probably find out after all she was the club's VP any member would tell her exactly what they'd been up to, including Sugilite and Malachite who were the two following Lapis, without a second thought. Plus right now Jasper needed to keep tabs on Perri and Amethyst was the best person to do it so pissing her off would be a bad ideal. "Yeah. I had some of the club follow her. I wanted to scare her off after she used your car to do burnouts around the bar. It was stupid I know i called them off her a few days ago." Jasper admitted.

Amethyst sighed. "Look, Lapis fucked up. She knows to stay away from you and she didn't. She came here wanting to provoke a reaction and that's exactly what happened. You were making such progress but you took a pretty big step back by letting her rile you up like that."

Jasper groaned dropping her head to the bar with a loud thump. "Ugh, please just be pissed at me you being disappointed is even worse."

Amethyst polished off her beer before continuing. "Lapis knows she shouldn't have come here and I'm confident she won't be back so I dropped it. If you promise me you won't have people following Lapis I'll drop it for you too."

Jasper also finished her beer staring into the empty glass. "I won't it was a mistake. I promise you I know me and Lapis have put you through hell, I'm sorry for that."

Amethyst shrugged. "Hey it's my mess anyway. If I had known, I wouldn't have introduced you two."

Jasper spun Amethyst around to face her. "Hey its not like you knew my and Lapis would mix like fire and gas. Seriously you've done more for me than my family ever did. You never owed me shit and even if you did you'd have repaid it a hundred times."

Amethyst nodded Jasper knew her words probably fell on deaf ears but maybe it was a start at least. After a few minutes of silently sipping their beers Amethyst got a text. "Hey Jasper is that pizza place still having that sell?" 

"That one place with the weird owner who changed his last name to Pizza. Yeah, why you ask?" Jasper asked confused.

Amethyst replied to both Jasper and the text. "Perri wants to get out of her apartment today and was asking me for a good place to eat once she wakes up later."

'Well shit I won the lottery.' Jasper thought. 'I was wondering how I'd get find her but Amethyst just served her up on a silver platter. I'll make sure that bitch doesn't hurt Perri like she hurt me.'

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A finger pushed the head of a rose back up only for it to droop immediately after the finger left. This back and forth continued uninterrupted by the whistle of a tea kettle or the sound of a cup of warm liquid being sat on the table in front of her. It didn't stop when the girl responsible was asked the amount of sugar she wanted. The girl just muttered. "I don't care." In barely understandable slurring.

Pearl sighed trying desperately to remember how her guest took her tea from over a decade ago. From what she remembered Pearl added the maximum number of sugar cubes she thought was socially acceptable then added a few more. Even if she didn't like it she felt it at least matched the girls normal personality.

Pearl watched her guest mess with the roses on her dinner table not touching her tea. "Do you not like tea?" She asked.

The girl had her head on the table resting on her left arm. Only one eye was visible to Pearl as the girl murmured something Pearl only just understood as. "Its fine."

Pearl sighed. "Spinel you need to drink something your voice sounds as rough as sandpaper."

Spinel didn't respond just kept her mascara stained eyes on the roses.

"Fine you leave me no choice Spinel. I can't make you drink or eat or sleep but I know someone who can." Pearl said standing and grabbing her car keys.

Spinel raised her head just enough to follow Pearl. "Where ya going?" She asked.

"I know it's been ages since we spoke, we were never really more than mutual friends with Penny so I didn't think to stay in touch. Still I should have checked in on you or at least told you when she passed. I'm sorry for that." Pearl placed a hand on Spinel's back like she had when the girl spent the whole night switching from anger to sadness like a metronome all night. "Still I won't let you stay here and be miserable. I know someone who is really good at helping people. Penny died giving birth, I told you but I wasn't sure you heard while crying. His name is Steven and I think he can help you. Now you can either stay here and be miserable for half an hour till I get back with him, or you can come with me and meet him at his house. What will it be?"

Spinel groaned. "I guess I cram myself into your damn clown car." Spinel drug herself from the table and out the door.

"My car is plenty big enough for two. Why does everyone make fun of my car." Pearl griped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the month long disappearing act but this chapter just didn't click at first but once I figured out where I wanted to take it I started flowing pretty well. Jasper and Amethyst founded the little motorcycle club but Amethyst doesn't have a huge role in it. I kinda regret the first interaction Perri had with Jasper's goons since I now want to take them in a different direction but It'll work just gonna be a bit harder to make convincing. Still hope you like it and I think Jasper's club will surprise a lot of people.


	5. Right Now

Jasper sat on a park bench across the street from Fish Stew Pizzaria. A small pomeranian walked by and the dog at Jasper's feet looked up. “Don’t even think about it asshole.” Jasper warned the mastiff. “I know you want to be friends O.J, but you’d step on that little shit.”

The Saint Bernard at her feet soon layed back down after the small dog walked off with its owner. Jasper patted the large fur ball while she sat there watching the comings and goings of the pizza joint. “Excuse me ma’am.” Jasper looked to the side to see two people one an adult the other just a teen likely siblings she assumed.

Jasper smiled. “Let me guess you’re here for her.” She said patting the dog.

The kid laughed. “Yes ma’am I was hoping I could pet her and maybe me and my sibling could get a pic with her.”

Jasper laughed, kids always wanted to pet O.J. The gentle giant gave off a magnetic attraction to animal lovers within a mile radius. “Go ahead O.J here loves meeting new people." The teen leaned down and started petting the large dog who thumped her tail against the ground happy to be receiving the affection. 

While Jasper watched the teen and adult played with her dog. "We're did you get her." The older sibling asked forcing Jasper to tear her gaze from their ass.

"Oh she's a shelter rescue. I take her to the hospital as a therapy dog." Jasper informed them.

"You know I thought you looked familiar. Our mom works at the hospital. Do you know a Doctor Maheswaran?" The older sibling asked.

"I do. That's your guys mom?" Jasper asked beginning to see the resemblance. "You two do look like her. My name's Jasper."

"I'm Stevonnie and this is my sister Connie." Stevonnie said shaking Jasper's hand. "It’s actually weird I look so much like mom since I'm really adopted. No blood relation so it's really just by chance I look like my family, that and the fact this one here tries to copy her big sibling's style." Stevonnie said ruffling Connie's hair.

"Shit I would have sworn you were blood relatives. Still least you found a good family to raise you, was in foster care till I aged out." Jasper told them.

"I couldn't imagine that. My birth mom gave me up and Dr Maheswaran basically adopted me right there in the exam room. The moment my parents said they didn't want me." Stevonnie sighed. "Shit sorry to get all dramatic when we just stopped to pet dogs."

"Don't worry about it, I own a bar I'm used to people spilling their guts to me." Jasper laughed.

"You own a bar? My sibling just got hired at a bar, or really a club but close enough." Connie commented.

Stevonnie blushed. "Let's not tell everyone what I do sis."

"You a stripper?" Jasper asked smirking, the blush on Stevonnie's face told her the answer. "Hey my best friend's a stripper so I won't judge."

"Thanks and can you keep it from our mom? I don't want her to know just yet." Stevonnie asked.

"Sure I don't talk to the doc that often anyway just a few passing words and when she's at work that almost all she talks about." Jasper told her. "And I hope I'm not being to forward but what club do you work at? I don't normally go out to other clubs but next time I do I may check out yours."

"I work at a place called the Crystal Cove." Jasper's eyes widened at that information. "It's LGBTQ friendly I mean I use non-binary pronouns and I work there. Hey speaking of there's my boss now!" Jasper almost broke her neck to jerking her eyes back to the pizza joint just in time to see a triangle of blond hair enter the place.

Jasper was now in an awkward position, she wanted to just abruptly end the conversation and go after Perri but that would be too obvious. First thing that night Stevonnie would probably ask Perri why that muscular lady chased her into a pizza place then Amethyst would find out. Hell it was a big chance that Perri would tell Amethyst she bumped into her ex and If she mentioned her name, Jasper was fucked. 'Shit I really backed myself into a corner.'

"Well it's been nice meeting you Jasper but I don't want my boss to think the reason I'm tired at work is because I was out meeting cute dogs, I'm just still adjusting to a nightshift." Stevonnie interrupted her train of thought. "I hope to see you at the club sometime Jasper. I hope I'm not to forward but I'd love to sell you a dance sometime. It's always nice when the client is attractive." Stevonnie said biting their lip as they checked out Jasper's muscular arms.

"There you go sib, build up that clientele." Connie cheered. "Bye Jasper and bye O.J."

"We'll see Stevonnie. Later you two." Jasper said not mentioning she was banned from the Cove as she waved the siblings off.

"Nice networking sib we should get you business cards." Connie told her big sibling.

"Connie, I'm a exoctic dacner not a lawyer." Stevonnie said.

"Fine but I read on the internet that you need an online presence. Have you considered making a Instagram for work." Connie rambled.

"Would that help?" Stevonnie wondered.

"From what I read it would.” Connie said pulling up the article on her phone. “So have you ever heard of premium snapchats?”

Jasper waved to the doctor’s kids before rushing across the street to Fish Stew Pizza chasing the triangular head. She tied O.J to her ussal table on the outdoor patio. “Stay.” She ordered before walking in. 

Fish Stew Pizza was relatively close to Jasper’s bar meaning she came her often when bar food wasn’t cutting it for her anymore. The establishment’s reputation was a hotly debated topic and had to be banned in her bar as while no one had even came to blows over it, they had some members of Homeworld M.C had came close. Still Jasper liked it and the Pizza kids were good kids so she supported the family business they would inherit one day. Jasper entered the small place and would up right behind Perri who was preoccupied. ‘Now how to start a conversation with her?’ Jasper pondered however she quickly learned that she didn’t need to worry When the bored looking teen at the counter greeted her. “Hey Jasper.”

“Ey Jenny, Workin hard?” Jasper responded to the girl. Jenny hinted that she may be interested in joining Homeworld M.C but Jasper wasn’t sure if she was serious and wouldn’t let her join without a bike anyway.

“Never have before and I ain’t starting now.” Jenny laughed.

Perri’s slowly turned around. “Jasper?” Not only did she recognize the name but also the voice. Once she saw the towering woman with tribal tattoos on her arms and a wild mane of white hair. “Jasper Brooks?”

Jasper looked down at her old flame from almost a foot and a half over her. “Perri Diamond?” Jasper said playing dumb like she had no ideal Perri would be here less the short girl asked Amythyst how she knew Jasper. “What are you doing down here In the A?”

“I moved here recently. My aunt owned a business here and had her husband handed it over to me after it became too much for him to run. What about you?” Perri asked.

“I moved here after I left the military. A friend of mine told me about a bar for sell. You should come down and catch up over drinks.” Jasper offered.

“I can’t, I stopped drinking after we… went our separate ways.” Perri told her. “Look, I need to order.”

Jasper could tell Perri was pulling away from her and she needed to reel her back in. “Well sounds like we got a lot of catching up to do.” Time to throw out the bait she had prepared. “I left my dog out at my usual table. Why don’t we eat out on the store's patio?”

Perri swallowed the bait just like Jasper had hoped. “You have a dog?” A dog was the one thing she was never allowed as a kid as Yevette was extremely allergic. 

“Yep a saint bernard named O.J. She’s trained as an emotional support dog for kids at the local children’s hospital.” Jasper bragged. “Tell ya what, let me get my regular for us both. We used to like the same kinda pizza. I’ll just tell them to add anchovies on your’s.” 

Perri considered but having had trouble deciding what she wanted to begin with she decided nothing to lose from accepting pizza recommendations from Jasper. “Fine but we’re buying seperately.”

“You sure? I’d be happy to pay for your’s.” Jasper offered.

“That’s too much like dating again.” Perri told her.

Jasper was a bit disappointed to hear Perri so closed off to the ideal of dating again but shrugged it off. Keeping her from getting hurt by Lapis was the main goal. “Fair enough.” Jasper said before stepping up to the counter. “The usual for me Jen, the same for Perri but throw on some anchovies.”

“Alright, My sister will be out in a minute with you pizzas.” Jenny told them.

Perri walked outside and immediately fell in love. “Oh my stars. Is that your dog?” She said pointing at the mass of fluff with a wagging tail.

“Yep that's O.J.” Jasper said.

“She’s amazing!” Perri cried leaning down to pet the excited pooch. 

"Yeah, she's been a good friend to me." 

Perri eventually tore herself away from the pooch to sat down at the table across from Jasper. "So it's crazy to see you again after all these years, especially so far from home. How have you been?" Perri asked as awkwardness settled between the two denser than San Francisco fog.

"Alright I guess." Jasper scratched her the back of her head awkwardly. "Look Perri. I just want to say I'm sorry. I treated you like shit. I tried to control you and I had quite a temper, still do if I'm being honest. I realized I was verbally abusive to you and after we broke up my next girlfriend and I were physically abusive to each other. I see a therapist now and I try to save my anger for people who deserve it."

"What do you mean?" Perri asked. "I know how you can be when you're mad. Who deserves that?"

Jasper looked down at her hands. "People like me." Jasper sighed and fished out a business card handing it to Perri. "I run a women's motorcycle club that supports abuse victims. We run a charity that provides housing to victims and children. We also protect people during trials. We keep someone with them if they want and will accompany them to court and stand with them while they testify. I wouldn't have treated you the way I did if you had a big ass biker lady friend backing you up so I provide people with that big ass biker friend."

"So what? It's some kinda self imposed penance?" Perri asked.

"Something like that yeah. I've been both abuser and abused. I understand how both sides think. I know what tricks an abuser uses on their victims and what that does to the victim."

Perri silently processed all this. Jasper never had hurt her physically but she definitely messed her up mentally. Perri had never been very confident in her looks but Jasper's insults made the problem much worse and now the mountainous woman was admitted she got worse not better. Still she also was claiming she had turned her life around. Perri wasn't sure what to make of Jasper.

"Look it up." Jasper's voice cut through her thoughts. "I know that look. Your not convinced that I'm telling the truth. My card has has the address of our website on it plus a quick Google search will pull up multiple articles about us. I even did an interview with a local news station talking about a charity event we had to raise money to hire therapists for victims of abuse. Hell you can look up my therapists they're listed as an abuse victim specialists."

"Therapists?" 

"There conjoined twins." Jasper said.

Perri looked at the card sure enough right under a picture of Jasper was a website. Perri decided she'd take Jasper up on the offer to look into her claims later but for now their pizza had arrived.

Jasper watched the smaller girl eat slowly still deep in thought. She knew Perri well enough to know that that interview she mentioned would be getting another view soon. She was suddenly thinkful she had been convinced to have the suit tailored, she looked damn good in that interview. Still she knew Perri had more questions. "I'm an open book if you want to know more." She offered.

Perri finished a slice of her pizza. "I do have one question more than I’m more curious about than any other. I know this is rude and you can't judge a book by its cover. Anyone can be abusive but I just have a hard time imagining the person who abused you."

"Yeah I get that a lot but its ok. It's a teachable moment when it happens. She isn't big and tough like me." Jasper wanted to be careful to both get across that someone like Lapis could be abusive but she knew Perri didn't trust her enough for her to outright say it was Lapis. "Lets just say people can surprise you."

Perri was silent for a bit. "Did you know I'm seeing someone?" She asked.

Jasper had to swallow a lump in her throat. "Oh really?" Jasper wasn't sure she was ready to hear this. "What's she like?"

"She's a lot like me I guess. We both made a lot of mistakes and now where trying to get back on track." Perri looked down at the dog at her feet patting the pups head. "We're young. Our life just got started and we stumbled right out the gate."

Jasper nodded. "Yeah I see a lot of people our age. Who should be in college or whatever but instead are showing up to court. The first years of their adult life spent in and out of jail and by the time they get out their behind."

Perri nodded. "I'm lucky to have a last name that carries as much weight as mine, my girlfriend wasn't that lucky." Perri stood up from the table. "Jasper, we have a complicated past but if you are really a changed person maybe we can try being friends. That said if you think you can walk right back into my life and expect me to fall in line like I used to, I'll have to demand that you never show your face to me again."

"That business I inherited is a strip club and each girl there has a stage name. Even though I only went on stage to give an announcement I got a stage name as part of that tradition. Your ex Perri was dumb enough to let you walk all over her, but I am Peridot, the ringmaster of the the sexiest show in Atlanta. I will not let you walk all over me this time." Perri threatened.

Jasper let the slice she was chewing drop from her mouth as she stared into the fire that was Perri's eyes. 'That was hot as fuck.' Jasper had a thing for fiery women. Still she forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat. "I promise you I don't want to see you hurt the way I hurt you ever again."

Perri held Jasper's gaze before she sighed and sat back down with a sigh. "Good. Sorry if that came off as a little over the top. My self esteem has been shit for so long when I do need a boost to it I have to go all out."

Jasper nodded. "Well it's good your exerting yourself. Standing up for yourself and all that. The twins, my therapists, say that's important."

Perri nodded. "I guess. Look if you want to try being friends we can but the moment you start trying to control me it's over and I'll kick your ass. I don't know how I'll manage such a feat but I'll figure it out." Perri said with a playful smile. 

Jasper laughed. "I'm sure you'll come up with something. You know what would help with your confidence?" Perri raised her eyebrow. "Power posing."

"What, you want me to strike a pose like a damn power ranger?" Perri asked skeptically.

"If that's what it takes. Look you watch a lot of anime, just copy something from a powerful character from one of them." Jasper told her. 

"What like the Gainax pose?" Perri asked beginning the long process of reconnecting with Jasper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is the long awaited meeting of Jasper and Perri. Sorry if it wasn't dramatic as you expected but their both playing it safe and testing the waters. Plus like Doofenshmirtz tells Perry the Platypus "Everyone knows not to cause a scene in a fine dinning environment." As for Jasper's dog I tried to think of a reason for Perri to even humor Jasper and not tell her to get lost right away. A cute dog was the best ideal I could come up with. O.J's name is a reference to the corrupted gem Jasper fused with Ocean Jasper. Also Jasper's last name is the same as her voice actress.


	6. Over Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning this chapter dose have a short sex scene I marked it so you can skip it if you want but it dose set up the next scene. I summarize the basics you need going forward but you may miss a little bit.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"You're not my mom."

"I'm not taking you to work with me." Pearl said exasperated. 

"I'm a grown woman. If I want to get some drinks and a sexy lap dance that's my right as a American. Like the Declaration of Independence says, 'Every man is entitled to life, liberty and lap dances'." Spinel argued.

"That is not what it says and you know it.." Pearl argued.

"It would if Ben Franklin wrote it. That guy was a horn dog." Spinel said grumpily crossing her arms.

"Look Spinel. It's good that after your talk with Steven you feel like getting out of the house but I don't think a night of clubbing is the best solution to heartache." Pearl tried to tell her.

"What did you do after Penny died?" Spinel asked.

Pearl sighed defeated. "I went out and got absolutely wasted."

"Look, I'm going out and having myself a good time. Either I take a Uber to a random club and go home with the nicest piece of tail I can find or I go to your club. That way you can at least babysit me." Spinel told her.

"Fine but I'm telling our bartenders to keep an eye on what you drink. The moment you start slurring your speech I'm making you call it quits." Pearl demanded. 

"Fine but in exchange you're buying me a dance from the best stripper there." Spinel negotiated.

"Deal and you are not to go home with anyone tonight."

"Not even if they offer me free candy?!" Spinel said aghast before slumping back on the couch. "You think I was born yesterday. I'll just get a dance then pass out in your breakroom. You will let me pass out in the back right pal?"

Pearl sighed. "I told you your cap is the moment you slurring. You won't get nearly intoxicated enough to need a place to pass out. Still I suppose if you need some time to yourself just this once I'll let you use the employees only areas."

"Jezz thanks, you’re letting me hide in your broom closet." Spinel complained.

\-------

"Are you as miserable as I am." Yelvah asked as the back of her chair was kicked for what seemed like the millionth time.

Bethany sighed as the woman next to her, a complete stranger, used her shoulder as a pillow, drooling as she slept soaking the secretary's shirt. "Definitely."

"Ever since Penelope started working for Whitney she has been an absolute bitch." Yelvah complained.

"Remembered when she was likable?" Bethany said trying to nudge her new least favorite person's head off her.

"When she worked for Penny you mean." Yelvah sighed. "Those were the good old days. Till Penny almost blinded our sister."

"And we didn't help her. She lost an eye and we just kept our heads down so Whitney Diamond could cover it all up and save her family the embarrassment. We even stayed on as their secretaries. The Diamonds basically own our family." Bethany continued. "I wanted to be an artist but now I'm lucky to have time to doodle on scraps of paper."

"And I thought I'd be a model by now. Life doesn't always work out that way. Besides, we have good paying respectable jobs. If we had followed our passions we'd be just as likely homeless as we would filling up art galleries and such now. Passion doesn't guarantee a paycheck." Yelvah chimed in.

"I'd rather be a starving artist than a handkerchief for a weepy bitch like Belle." Bethany said.

"How do you think I feel? Someone needs to tell Yvette that she isn't in the military anymore. 'Yes ma'am, no ma'am'. And her weird insistence to use military twenty-four hour clocks. You know she made me do push ups once? Is that even legal?" Yelvah said.

Bethany laid her head on her sister's shoulder. "When did we get like this? Remember when all of us Pearl siblings had big dreams? We promised to help each other achieve them. Even Penelope wanted to be an Olympic ribbon dancer. Instead we all settled into a job we hate."

Yelvah laid her head on her sister's head. "Not all of us. Weiss just wanted to find a job that paid well sure for a while she wanted to be a ballerina but gave it up. Instead she got a job for the Diamonds, hell she's the one that got us the job at Diamond Inc."

Bethany sat up suddenly jostling the woman next to her. "I told you never to mention that fucking, god damned, lose pussy, shithead, whore of a bitch ever again." 

Yelvah held her hands up to try and calm her sister. Her sister only cursed when she was very mad but when her profanity devolved into barely coherent cursing she was beyond pissed. "Easy Beth. I know how you feel I'm just saying we let her decide what to do, let her call the shots and tell us what we wanted out of life."

"What do you think ever happened to her?" 

Yelvah shrugged. "I have no ideal. I just hope she's happy."

"I hope she died in a fire." Bethany said crossing her arms.

"Come on Bethany you don't mean that." Yelvah said.

Bethany shoved the woman off her waking her as her head almost bounced off the window. "Don't tell me how to feel. I'm going to the bathroom." With that she abruptly left Yelvah alone to ponder how her sister's bonds had become so frayed.

\---------

"I am Peridot!" Perri cheered in the middle of her bathroom. She checked the picture on her phone. She adjusted her stance. She widened her legs to about shoulder length apart and crossed her arms. She tried to mimic the determined expression on Ryuko Matoi's face but she didn't have a dead father to avenge so it wasn't as dramatic.

"I am Peridot owner of the Crystal Cove!" She tried again feeling a bit more confident as she did. She felt stupid, but powerful. "This is my domain. Soon I will control all of Atlanta with my army of… of… Stripper Assassins! And there is nothing. Nothing! You clods can do to stop me!" She finished with her best evil laugh as she pictured a ragtag band of heroes cowering fear.

"You know you'd be a sexy supervillain." Perri spun around to see Lapis in her doorway watching her.

Perri turned red. "How long have you been standing there?!"

"Long enough that I know I'm dating a supervillain. That being said I think your sights are a bit low. Atlanta's a good start but a real supervillain wouldn't rest until the whole world kneeled before them." Lapis said walking over to Perri pulling the shorter girl into a kiss.

"You know if I do take over the world I'll need an evil queen by my side." Perri said still held in Lapis' arms.

"Are you offering the position to me?"

"That depends, let's say you capture the plucky hero of the rebellion. How do you kill them?" The short blonde asked.

"Well I'd need to come up with some elaborate way to kill them that would also give me plenty of time to monologue and also almost guarantee their allies have time to rescue them." Lapis explained.

Perri leaned up to kiss the dancer. "Perfect. Exactly like the evil villain textbook says."

"I graduated top of my class at Evil Academy." Lapis bragged.

"What are you doing here so early? Your shift doesn't start for more than another hour." Perri asked.

"Well normally I wouldn't be caught dead here earlier than I have to, but now that I have a cute girlfriend I wanted to come see if I could catch her doing cute shit like plotting to take over the world." Lapis teased kissing the top of Perri's head.

"I was only planning to take over Atlanta expanding this to be a global conquest was your ideal Lazuli." Perri told her.

"And I want credit when we are ruling from our thrones made of the skulls of our enemies. Also I wanted to ask you something." Lapis said. "I know we've been doing this relationship thing out of the traditional order, which is honestly the way I prefer it. Still I want to take you out on a date."

Perri smiled. "I was hoping to ask you out on a date soon as well. What were you thinking we'd do?"

"Well I gave it a lot of thoughts and honestly I can't decide. My first date ‘go to’ is a fancy dinner, mainly to prove that even though I let people slip money into my underwear for a living I can be classy too. That said your rich and the fancy restaurant I could afford would be nothing to some places you've probably had plus you don't like all that fancy crap." Lapis told her.

"Your right, a cake should not be served in a syringe that you just squirt in your mouth." Perri said.

"... What?" Lapis asked confused. 

"For my adoption day my grandma took me to a place that only served single bite dishes. They made a cake that was in a syringe like you might take cough medication with. You just squirted it into your mouth and boom that was my version of a birthday cake." Perri said looking sad.

"You never told them you'd prefer something more traditional for your adoption day party?" Lapis asked. 

"I didn't want to seem ungrateful." Perri shrugged.

"Well when your adoption day comes up next let me know so I can make you a big ass cake. One big enough for a stripper to pop out of." Lapis said with a wink.

"Sounds great Lapis." Perri smiled. "Now back to the date. How about a movie?"

"I don't know. Maybe for a second or third date but a movie means you can't really talk to each other." Lapis told her.

"True.” Perri pondered for a moment before saying. “Ok, so embracing my inner nerd but does Atlanta have any museums. I mean it’s a big city so it has to.” 

“Yeah it’s got a few. You know I am pretty interested in marine life and we’ve got a pretty cool aquarium.” Lapis offered. “It’s been forever since I’ve been.”

“Yes, I love aquariums. There's something magical about seeing a whole other world so alien but covering so much of our planet.” Perri smiled. “Do they let you pet stingrays?”

“We will find out.” Lapis said. “So Perri would you like to go on a date with me to the Georgia Aquarium?”

“I’d love to.” Perri replied pulling the taller girl down for a kiss.

“Awesome. Now we have about an hour till work starts." Lapis pointed out. "And I got an ideal on how to spend it." She finished with a wink. 

"Oh really? Well why don't you show me just how we could spend it?" Perri said smiling into another kiss that quickly escalated.

000000000000000000------Sexy Time Warning--------00000000000000000000000

Lapis pulled the nerd in closely her hands reaching under her shirt and her hands roaming over Perri's stomach and up to her breasts teasing over the fabric of the nerd's bra.

Perri for her part pulled the dancer in with one hand on the back if her head and the other running over her perfect ass reaching under the short skirt the dancer wore. She felt the perfect skin left mostly bare save the tiny bit covered by a g-string.

Once the two women pulled away trying to catch their breaths Lapis lifted Perri up onto the countertop. She worked to unbutton the nerd's pants as Perri helped her pull them down to her ankles along with her panties.

Lapis began kissing her way back up Perri's pale legs and up to her dripping pussy. Being short on time Lapis wasted no time worshiping her girlfriend's vagina with her tongue.

"Mmmm. Fuck." Perri breathed as her fingers tensed around the edge of the countertop and her legs partially bound by the denim around her ankles pushed Lapis deeper.

With her mouth working to please Perri, Lapis let her right hand drop to her own pussy while her right ran up Perri's stomach to her petite breasts. Lapis knew people started to show up for work at the earliest thirty minutes before the start of the shift but she wasn't sure how long she had spent talking to Perri. Between her fingers and Perri's beautiful moans Lapis was quickly building to her climax.

Both girls stood on the doorstep of a mind blowing orgasm as Perri's fingers tangled in Lapis' hair as both girls were mere moments to from their peaks and nothing could ruin the moment if bliss they shared.

"Perri are you kn here I wish to apologize for my abse- Holy Fuck!" Both girls shot apart as they heard Pearl's voice. Unfortunately the final movements of Lapis' tongue and the final thrusts of the dancers fingers in her own pussy sent both of them to a orgasim. Both girls cursed in satisfaction and anger. "I'm sorry I should've knocked!" Pearl said scrambling out of the apartment. As a new face to the two girls stood with a smile on her face. 

"Damn Pearl, your job is pretty awesome!" The pigtailed girl said before being drug away by the manager.

Lapis panted on the floor. "God. Fucking . Dammit." She said covering her red face with her arm ignoring her own juices still on her fingers.

000000000000------Sexy Time End, Pearl walked in on them if you skipped----0000000

Perri collapsed backwards against the mirror, her face redder than it had ever been. "Fucking clod!" She spat.

Lapis forced herself into a sitting position. "I'm sorry Perri I forgot to lock the door."

"It's fine Lazuli. Pearl should have knocked the damn clod." Lapis watched her girlfriend throw her pants and soaked panties into the corner of the bathroom. "I need to change into new clothes. Mainly new panties." Lapis knew when someone wanted space and knew Perri was a lot more embarrassed than she was. Her girlfriend needed some time to herself and she'd give her just that.

"Alright, before I go can I get a kiss?" Lapis asked.

Perri chuckled and nodded. Her face was red with embarrassment and she had a few tears in her eyes but when Lapis kissed her Perri smiled like the dopey lovebird she was. Lapis figured this was proof the little nerd would be fine soon.

Lapis walked down the stairs and was almost immediately jumped by Pearl. The dancer sighed. "I know and that wasn't 'appropriate for work' but Perri-" Lapis stopped when Pearl laughed a embarrassed chuckle.

"I understand Lapis. When Rose was in charge… well you and Perri aren't the first two women to get caught in the act." Perri asked blushing yet smiling at the memory. "How mad is she at me?"

Lapis was taken back she had gotten in trouble for playing the 'pocky game' with Amethyst and yet not for eating out Perri. Still she knew the saying about mouths and gift horses. "Pretty pissed I think. It's at least partly my fault. I didn't lock the door even though I knew people may start showing up. But I didn't plan on having sex with Perri, I just wanted to ask her out on a proper date but she was doing some cute motivational thing and then I started getting turned on and then we talked about her parents and her birthdays and she said-"

"Lapis." Pearl interrupted her rambling. "Breath Lapis. My goodness was this how Garnet felt watching me talk about Rose?"

Lapis laughed. "Probably. I guess now you can get revenge for all the times I teased you about Rose."

"No teasing. Just know I'm happy for you both. Now I feel bad for walking in on you two, and even If you're partly to blame I walked into both the apartment and to the bathroom without knocking. I just felt so bad for abandoning Perri so soon with so little experience. Still I may have a way to make it up to her if you'd allow me to discuss it with you as I feel you may have some valuable input." Pearl said guiding Lapis to her office. "Plus I'll go ahead and fulfill a promise to buy a friend a dance from you."

\------------

Jasper was closing up her bar when she heard the bell over the door ring. She didn't bother looking away from the bottles of alcohol she was inventorying. "Didn't you see the sign says closed? And for your own sake you best you not be here to rob me because I could honestly use the excuse to kill someone right now. Been a stressful few days."

Jasper picked up a bottle of vodka to get a better judge for how full it was. "Oh I'm not here to rob you Jasper." The bulky woman dropped the bottle when she heard that voice. "I'm here to see if you can help me with my Starlight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is pretty much in Atl now all ready of some nice feels coming up


	7. Dungeons and Dancers

"Damn my neck is killing me." Yelvah said exiting the plane.

"When I see Penelope I'm going to tell her exactly what I think about her booking us fucking coach out of La Guardia." Belle complained.

"And what do you think?" Both sister jumped spinning around to see Penelope standing next to their gate waiting for them.

"What? But how?" Yelvah sputtered confused.

"Oh did I forget to mention I booked myself on the same flight?" Penelope said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. 

"I didn't see you on the plane." Belle asked.

"I had enough points to upgrade myself to business class. I hope you girls slept well, I know I did." 

Yelvah thought she could she sparks coming from Belle's grinding teeth as the blue headed sister shot daggers at the youngest Pearl sister. "Penelope. I'm going to fucking END YOU!" She yelled diving at the one eyed sister.

"Belle calm down." Yelvah yelled blocking her sisters.

Penelope didn't even flinch. "No it's fine Yelvah. I know you're both furious at me. I need you both angry."

"Why?" Yelvah asked still holding back Belle who growled and swiped her hands at Penelope like claws.

"We're visiting Weiss." Penelope simply stated.

The other two sisters stopped dead still. Belle pulled herself away from Yevah. "Lead the way sis." She said coldly.

Yelah watched her two sisters walk down the terminal. "Ah fuck. This is going to be a mess."

\-------

Bass thumped across the club as Perri sat watching the crowds of people. It had definitely filled up more since she took over and she overheard some conversations. Despite not having launched any marketing campaign word of mouth was the most effective form of advertising and many people had begun to return to the club. Garnet had informed her that she had seen many faces she hadn't seen since Aunt Penny died. A lot of people were eager to see what she would do with the club.

Perri didn't plan on disappointing them. She had something big on it's way. She had planned a protest that would start at the club and march to city hall. Perri had found a cause she cares deeply about. Georgia had to recognize the supreme court's ruling to allow gay marriage but lawmakers had put a law in place that allowed adoption agencies to deny LBGTQ families from adopting on the grounds of 'Religious or moral beliefs'. They claimed it was to allow the biological parents to ensure that the child is raised in a home that follows the same religious beliefs as them, Perri knew bullshit when she smelt it.

So here Perri was, watching her prey. Mayor Dewey sitting in the corner watching Pearl dance to 'I Wanna Love You' by Akon and Snoop Dogg. She wanted him to be in a good mood when she dropped the form she needed to get permission to organize her march in front of him. Her plan before was to wait till after he bought a dance from Pearl to pounce but after her awkward encounter with the bird woman she wanted to avoid having to speak to her anymore than absolutely necessary.

'Do I go now or stick to the plan. Pearl normally walks with him to the door and sees him off after her dance. So if I wait till after his dance I'll have to face Pearl after she saw me naked and cumming. But what if the Mayor likes to hurry home after his dance? Maybe to take care of some… side effects of Pearl's performance.' Perri pondered. While she was lost in her thoughts she completely failed to notice Pearl finish her performance and start to make her way over to Perri's booth.

"Excuse me Perri." Pearl said causing the short girl to jump damn near out of her skin. 

"Shit! Pearl! Don't sneak up on me." She hissed but Pearl just sighed.

"Amethyst announced my show was done. I wanted to apologize for my actions earlier. It was rude of me to enter your apartment unannounced. I suppose when Rose lived in it she never needed me to knock then it was empty for so long I must have fallen into a habit of just letting myself in." Pearl said.

Mayor Dewey walked over to Pearl right away. "Um excuse me Ms. Pearl how much for a private dance?"

Pearl smiled at him. "Oh Bill you ask that every time. The price is the same as always. Unfortunately I wanted to talk to Perri so perhaps now isn't the best of times."

"Actually Mayor Dewey I was hoping to speak to you." Perri said.

"Well then how I buy a dance from the both of you." Dewey offered.

Perri turned bright red while Pearl just scratched her chin. "We do offer doubles dances but I can't remember the last time someone bought one."

"I know you don't dance yourself Perri but I'd be happy to pay the doubles fee just to get Pearl to do her thing." The mayor said.

"Well I suppose that's fine." Perri agreed.

"Perfect. Follow me everyone." Pearl said leading her little entourage towards the private dance rooms. Once inside the mayor sat in the plush chair while Perri awkwardly leaned against a wall.

Perri blushed. "Um isn't this awkward for you? I can't imagine most people would like someone they barely know watch them get a lap dance."

Dewey and Pearl both looked confused before breaking out in laughter. "Oh that's right you don't know do you? Man I must have seemed like a pervert asking you to join us." The mayor said.

"That's right Bill bought an actual lap dance from me once but passed out the moment he saw my breasts." Pearl said.

"It's one thing when she's up on stage but when she's right on your lap it's just too much for me and I fainted. Now I just take the time to ask her for political advice." Dewey said.

It all clicked now. That's why despite being the butt of every joke she'd heard about the politics in this city Dewey was still keeping things at least operating. "Oh so you just wanted to ask her questions."

"Yep, I've been giving advice to Bill since he was City Councilman Dewey." Pearl told her.

"Yes and I was hoping to get her opinion on this upcoming speech." He said pulling out a folded stack of paper.

Pearl took the papers and reached into her purse pulling out a pair of reading glasses that made her look like the dorkiest librarian. She heard Perri snicker. "Don't. Say. Anything." She warned.

"Well while Perri is reading that what is it you want to ask me." Dewey asked.

Perri pulled her forms out from her pocket. "I want to organize a protest. I was adopted by lesbian parents and while they weren't perfect no parent is and their faults weren't because of their sexuality. In Georgia LBGTQ couples can be denied adoption rights if the adoption agency claims it violates their religious beliefs. As both a LBGTQ woman who would one day like to adopt and a child who was adopted by a LBGTQ family I want to protest this injustice."

Dewey took the paperwork and looked it over checking that all the required information was filled out. "Great ideal Ms. Diamond. I can get this approved in no time and if you let me say a few words it will make me look good in the upcoming election."

Pearl glanced up from her reading. "And you truly believe in Perri's cause and would like to show your support for the LBGTQ community including you pansexual son Buck."

The Mayor nodded. "That too. Wasn't that obvious?"

"Bill we've been over this. I know you’re sincere but polls say a lot of voters believe you care more about winning than actually helping the city." Pearl pointed. "You need to focus on convincing people you're sincere. Might I suggest joining the protest not as the mayor but as a father supporting his son."

"That's a good ideal. I know it will make Buck happy. Plus I need all the help I can get this election." Bill said.

"Who's running?" Perri asked.

"It hasn't been officially announced but I hear that Pizza Grandma is planning to run as an independent candidate."

Pearl's eyes widened. "Oh Bill. I'm sorry to hear that. Honestly while being an independent may make it more difficult I just can't see you beating Nanefua. Everyone in Atlanta loves her and she's been a community leader for decades. Organizing all kids of charity events and helping out anyone who asks. She's everything voters believe you're not."

"You really think Atlanta will vote in a Mayor Pizza?" Bill asked.

"Honestly I know nothing about her but I'd definitely vote for a Mayor Pizza just for the memes." Perri commented. "That's the coolest name for a mayor."

"If you want to win this upcoming election you will need to bring your A-game." Pearl said handing the speech back to him. "The speech is fine but I'd change the part where you comment on all your administration has done to say what ‘we’ve’ accomplished as a city. Tone down your self importance and focus on painting it as a cooperative effort." She advised.

"Thanks Pearl. As for your protest Perri I'll take care of it first thing in the morning. Now I think that is just about my time so I will see you ladies soon. Who knows if this election goes south we may end up being coworkers." Mayor Dewey laughed.

"Well they say more and more women are attracted to the 'dad bod' so who knows, you might make more here." Perri said with a smirk.

"You'd have to be able to see me naked without getting a nosebleed first." Pearl teased.

"I don't know how Sour Cream will feel seeing his boyfriend's dad on stage every night but he can always barrow Buck's sunglasses. Have a nice night ladies." Bill said leaving the private room.

Pearl checked the clock. "He still had a few minutes left if you and I still need to talk to you Perri.If you don't mind."

Chatting with Mayor Dewey had lightened Perri's mood so while she still wasn't looking forward to this talk she felt much better about it. "It's ok Pearl mistakes happen plus Lapis admitted she should have locked the door."

"Still I know how you feel. Like I told Lapis this wasn't the first time the owner of this club was caught with an employee. However you probably don't want details about your Aunt's sex life." Pearl explained.

"I thought you were just pinning over Aunt Penny." Perri said.

"We were, I suppose the term is friends with benefits. I told her I had legitimate feelings for her and we stopped." Pearl explained. "Anyway I wanted to offer you a gift. Technically it's already yours but I've been too much of a sentimental fool to give it to you."

"What is it?" Perri had to ask.

"Follow me." Pearl said and led Perri back to the club proper and then to the back rooms. She passed Lapis and Amethyst taking their break. "Ladies if you have a minute follow me."

"Aw come on P I just sat down." Amethyst whined.

"Trust me Amethyst, you'll want to see this." Lapis said hopping up.

"Fine but it had better be good." The latina complained.

"I am showing you all what is in that right next to Perri's apartment." Pearl said staring up the stairs.

"The maintenance room?" Amethyst asked.

"The storage room?" Perri questioned. 

"She told me it was a boiler room before the building was renovated and they stopped using boilers." Lapis said. "I just learned before the shift what it actually was."

Amethyst was into it now. "Oh hell yeah! A secret room."

"Okay now I'm intrigued." Perri said.

Lapis kissed the top of the short nerd's head. "Trust me babe Pearl asked me if this was something you'd be interested in and I think we can have a lot of fun with it."

At last Pearl was at the top of the stairs where she produced her key chain. She took one key off and handed it to Perri. "This is the only copy. The other was buried with Rose. I placed it in her coffin as a memory of all the good times we had."

Perri took the key and stuck it in the door opening it. She had to unlock both a regular door knob as well as a deadbolt but once she did the door swung open to a pitch black room.

"The light switch is right on the wall." Pearl said stepping in first and placing her hand on the switch. "Before I turn it on let's all step inside and close the door. I'd rather not anyone else see this and it will make the reveal more dramatic."

The other three women entered as told with Perri closing the door. For a moment they were in total darkness but Pearl flipped the switch and bathed the room in soft lighting that reminded Perri of candlelight. Pearl adjusted a knob that increased the brightness till the whole room was visible.

"Wow." Lapis said having only had the room described to her.

"Holy shit." Perri commented as her eyes widened.

"Damn Rose was a freak." Amethyst commented.

"Welcome to Rose's sex dungeon." Pearl said blushing a bit.

The room was painted red with golden fleur de lis symbols outlined in a checkerboard pattern. The center if the room had a large bed even bigger than Perri's comically huge mattress with a headboard with plenty of places to attach restraints. On the sides were various forms of restraints from a pillory padded with red leather to a sex swing. A few ridding crops and whips hung from the walls.

A whistle from behind Perri caught her attention. “Wowie! Who knew Penny was such a freak?” A girl with messy pink pigtails and mascara runs said taking in the scenery.

“Dammit Spinel! I told you to wait downstairs.” Pearl chastised.

Spinel just shrugged. “I got bored so I wanted to see what you were up to. I slipped in right before the door shut.”

“Um? Who’s she?” Lapis asked. 

“I’m your new best friend Spinel.” She introduced herself like the grand prize on a game show. “I’m also your next customer Blue. Pearl promised me a dance from the best girl here and word on the floor is that’s you, Lappy-Taffy.”

Lapis’ eye twitched. “Do not call me ‘Lappy-Taffy’ ever again.”

Pearl sighed. “This is the friend I had to deal with. I wasn’t going to disrespect her privacy but since she doesn't respect our’s I will.”

Spinel wasn’t fazed. “Hey after a few more drinks I’d have been singing about my abandonment issues. I ain’t ashamed. Plus I was there when you were cumming earlier so privacy done flew out the window.”

“Um good to meet you then Spinel.” Perri said awkwardly.

“Thanks short stack. I also wanted to ask if you needed another dancer cause I kinda need a job.” Spinel inquired.

Pearl looked confused. “What about your old job at the gar-”

“I AM NOT GOING BACK TO THE GARDEN!” Spinel snapped. She saw the surprised looks of her possible future coworkers and coughed awkwardly. “I mean due to traumatic experiences with my previous place of employment I do not think it would be conductive to my mental wellness. If possible I was hoping to seek alternative employment from you Ms. Diamond.”

Perri nodded. “Ok why should I hire you?”

“Well I understand that this job requires an energetic personality and a very people oriented personality.” Spinel explained. “I would say that I have the energetic part down to a tea and I absolutely love making new friends.”

“Can you dance?” Perri questioned.

“I love dancing!” Spinel cheered and showed off by flossing.

Perri inwardly cringed but carried on. “Do you have any problems performing nude?”

“Nope I used to flash the girls or my booty for fun.” Spinel said reaching for the hem of her shirt.

Pearl grabbed her hand stopping her. “That’s fine Spinel we don’t need an example.”

“Speak for yourself. I’m down to see a new pair of titties.” Amethyst said.

“Well we do need more dancers. So we can give you a shot.” Perri offered. “Welcome to the Cove Spinel.” she offered her hand to shake.

Spinel grabbed her hand and shook so hard Perri thought she was going to tear her arm off. “Oh Thank You!”

“Your welcome Spinel. Now get the hell out of my sex dungeon.” Perri told her.

Spinel saluted. “Yes ma’am miss boss lady.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been planning this little reveal of the mystery room for a while. Poor Pearl I know I used to have a FWB but he started acting like we were more getting jealous I was still using the app we meet on so I had to cut it off. Still with Rose she probably knew how Pearl felt at least I feel that in the show she used Pearl's feeling to get her to rebel and keep her secrets. I know a lot of people didn't like it when we learned Rose wasn't a perfect saint but I thought it made her a lot more interesting. Anyway thanks for reading. Peace out my homies.


	8. Storm Clouds Gathering

"Is this too formal?" Perri asked nervously.

Lapis and Amethyst looked up from the fighting game they were playing. "Yes." They simultaneously said before going back to enjoying their competitive game on Perri's massive T.V.

"You barely even looked!" The nerd shouted. 

"Look P-dot, I know you've never met Greg but you could wear your pajamas and it would be too formal. Hell he'll be wearing the same white shirt he always wears probably with some stain from the last thing he ate." Amethyst pointed out.

"Yeah babe, Greg's nice but he's kinda a slob. That's why Amethyst and him get along so well." Lapis said as her character threw his sword and decapitated Amethyst's helicopter dog she was controlling. "Ha! Told you I could beat you even if you played Dog Copter."

Amethyst groaned. "That's bullshit, Lonely Blade is OP since the latest patch. Look Perri just wear whatever and let's go. I'm getting tired of Lapis kicking my ass."

"Yeah Perri just throw on a tee shirt and some jeans and that's all you need to meet Greg." Lapis told her.

"I just want him to know his wife's legacy is in good hands." Perri confessed.

"He already knows babe. Everyone told him how passionate you are for this place." Lapis reassured.

Perri accepted that but decided to add at least a little flair. Instead of a plain tee she grabbed up one of her favorite shirts with Master Roshi from DBZ smoking from a pipe. She thought it looked hip in a nerdy way and she had gotten a few compliments before when she wore it so it gave her a little confidence boost. With that she threw on some jeans and green converse and left the bathroom again. "Alright let's go meet this Greg guy."

"Finally." Amethyst sighed as her character was again defeated by Lapis'. "I don't get how you're so good at fighting games, Lapis."

"Drugs, still twitchy from when I used to use them." Lapis said with a wink. 

"Let's go ladies." Perri called ushering the pair towards the door and out her apartment.

Once they were outside of the club Amethyst asked. "Alright, who gets shotgun?" She asked while unlocking her car.

"I'm the reason we're even going so I should get shotgun." Perri said.

"Perri, you wouldn't make your girlfriend ride in the cramped back of the car." Lapis said. "So I should get to ride shotgun."

Perri shook her head. "Well I'm your girlfriend Lapis. That doesn't work in a lesbian relationship as what in a heterosexual relationship would be reserved for the female partner is shared by both partners in a homosexual relationship."

"Yeah well… you're more compact than me." Lapis pointed out. "It's just a fact that you'd fit better."

"That may be true Lazuli, but I am also your boss and as your boss, I get shotgun." Perri countered.

"Ladies please." Amethyst cut in. "I have a compromise."

\-----

"Hey Steven, is this shirt too formal?" Greg asked, holding up a tee shirt with the image of a tux printed on it.

Steven smiled at his dad while Connie stiffed a giggle. "Dad Perri is family. You wouldn't dress fancy to talk about stuff with me and you shouldn't treat her any differently."

"I guess… I just want her to know I'm serious about all this. That I'm more than just a washed out wannabe rock star." Greg said.

"Mr. Universe. My sib told me Perri's a nice woman. You don't have anything to worry about." Connie commented.

"Yeah dad just be yourself." Steven advised.

“Ok if you kids say so I’ll just stick to my regular clothes.” Greg relented and left the kids to their business. He stood outside of his car wash and didn't have to wait long for a familiar muscle car to pull up.

Amethyst rolled up to him hopping out of the car. "Greg what's good my dude?" She said hugging the older man.

"Hey Amethyst. Where's Perri and Lapis?" He asked.

Amethyst pressed a lever under the seat causing it to slide forward as far as possible and provide access to the backseat and a short girl with blonde hair climbed her way out. "Freedom!" She cried once kneeling on the asphalt.

"Move your cute ass Perri." Lapis said while also trying to unwedge herself from between the door frame and the seat. After a few failed attempts to untangle her feet Lapis too dropped out with all the grace of a turd. "Fuck." She said.

"Couldn't agree on who got shotgun huh?" Greg asked Amethyst.

"You know my rule, dude. If you don't tell me in five minutes no one gets shotgun." The Latina dancer said.

Perri finally noticed Greg and immediately stood trying to brush off her undignified entrance. "Ah, you must be Mr. Universe. I am Ms. Perri Diamond. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Greg scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah that's me. It's nice to meet you too Ms. Diamond."

"Dudes don't be so formal. Pearl already showed her your and Rose's sex dungeon. Drop the formalities." Amethyst said.

Lapis gagged. "Oh God I never considered that but now I just imagined Greg dressed like a gimp."

Greg blushed crimson. "Hey me and Rose only used that like twice."

"Yeah I heard you were pretty vanilla dude." Amethyst teased.

"What does that mean?" The four adults turned to see a young boy with curly black hair and a girl blushing next to him.

"Steven! Please tell me you didn't hear much of that conversation." Greg asked.

"Just the vanilla part. I assumed you'd be more of a chocolate guy." Steven said.

Lapis elbowed Amethyst. "You almost corrupted Steven you ass."

"I'm sorry I didn't see him." She defended.

Perri ignored them and walked over to the teen. "Your Steven. I suppose that makes me your cousin. I am Perri Diamond."

The boy's face lit up. "Oh my gosh! I've never met someone from my mom's side of the family. I have so many questions."

"And you can ask them later Steven but let them talk about what they agreed to meet for first." The girl next to Steven said before turning to Perri. "Hello Ms. Diamond. I'm Connie Maheswaran, Stevonnie's little sister." 

Perri shook Connie's hand. "Nice to meet you Connie. Your sibling told me a lot about you. I suppose I should thank you for encouraging them to apply for the job."

"Your welcome Ms. Diamond." Connie said smiling.

Yo, Greg. Let's take this chat inside so I can raid your fridge." Amethyst said.

"Sure thing. Follow me everyone." Greg said, leading them all inside the car wash's humble office space. Inside was a small break area with a vending machine, a tiny office and a storage room. Overall it was about half the space as Perri's apartment above the club and with the various bits of furniture a group this big pushed the limits of habitability.

"Kids, you want to go back to your card games in the break room while me and Perri talk in my office?" Greg asked.

The two kids nodded and Perri turned to her two employees. "You children want to join them?"

Amethyst lightly punched Perri's arm while Lapis flipped her off but they also turned to the break room. "Sure we’ll hang with the cool kids, side's the fridge is in here anyway." Amethyst said.

Greg led Perri to his office. "So how's life been treating you since you moved?" Greg asked, starting the conversation.

"Busy.” Perri replied. “Seems like enough stuff has happened to me to write a story.”

Greg chuckled. “Yeah, the Cove always has been crazy. That's why I knew it would be too much while I also raised Steven. Still I’m glad it’s in good hands.”

“Thank you for trusting me with the Cove. It means a lot to me.” Perri told him. “Hopefully things will start to calm down.”

Greg smiled. “I’m sure the worst is over.”

\--------

Jasper slammed back a shot of whiskey. “I’m not sure about this.”

Whitney Diamond sat beside her nursing a glass of wine. “You want to help Perri don’t you? Just stick to my plan, dear.” The Diamond matriarch said pinching Jasper's cheek like a sweet grandparent.

Jasper angrily swatted her hand away. “I want to protect her from that bitch Lapis.” She glared at Whitney. “But you might be even worse.”

The diamond swirled her wine in it’s glass. “I just want to protect my dear Starlight, Jasper. She isn’t ready for the cruel world around her. Just play your part and it will all work out.”

Jasper grabbed the bottle and slammed back as much as she could till the whiskey’s burn was too much. “Listen I don’t trust you one bit.” Whitney watched Jasper with uninterested eyes and an arrogant smirk that heated Jasper up more than the alcohol. It took every bit of the biker’s restraint to not lay the Diamond out. “Even when Perri and I were together she hated all your rules. And now that she’s finally free of your bullshit you want me to help put the leash back on? Give me one good reason I should help you with this fucked up plan you got?”

The Diamond matriarch polished off her wine before she grabbed a napkin from the bar. She pulled a pen from her purse and wrote as she spoke. “Plata o plomo. That’s what drug cartels say. It means ‘silver or lead’.” She put the napkin down in front of Jasper before she stood and walked away. “I won’t lay a hand on you Jasper. Instead I’ll just destroy everything you’ve worked for. It wouldn't be hard to convince people not to let an abuser near a bunch of abuse victims if I wanted to destroy your little charity. Alternatively Diamond Corp could make a generous donation to your cause and allow you to help victims of domestic violence across the country. The number on that napkin is just the average donation I'd be willing to make to such a noble cause.”

Jasper unfolded the napkin and almost fell from her stool. “You could donate this much regularly?”

“With ease my dear. Together we can ensure no abuse victim ever has to face their abuser in court alone. No family will have to stay up worried if the person they ran from will show up at the hotel they ran to. Your charity could cover all of America, hell maybe even expand internationally.” Whitney said pausing at the door. “Or I could tell everyone how you treated my granddaughter, maybe even… embellish certain parts. I would offer you a chance to think about it but I can see the answer in your eyes. I look forward to working with you Ms. Brooks” With that Whitney left the biker bar leaving Jasper to sulk at the bar.

Once Jasper saw Whitney climb into her limousine she slammed her fists on the bar cracking the wood and knocking the bottle of whiskey over leaving it to roll off the bar top and shatter. She spent the next few minutes cursing the older woman out till she calmed down. Once she regained some composure she pulled out her phone and made a call. “Obsidian, get Sugilite and go back to scoping out the crystal cove… I know I told you to stop now I’m telling you to go back… Good, I’m going out for a ride to clear my head, don't bother me no matter what.” Jasper hung up without waiting for a reply and rushed outside to her bike. She needed the wind in her hair as soon as possible.

\--------

Yelvah sighed and slowly poked her head into the bedroom of the penthouse suite her and Belle were staying in. “Honey do you feel like trying to see Perri tonight?” Gross sobbing doubling in volume was her only answer. Belle laid on the bed crying over old photos of Perri.

Yelvah had let her sob in peace since they arrived in Atlanta but this was getting out of hand. She marched into the room and placed a hand on her wife’s shoulder. “Belle, I know this is hard but putting it off is only making it worse. It’s like a bandaid, we just need to rip it off.There’s no need to get this worked up over it.”

Belle glared at Yelvah through her tears. “Don’t tell me how to feel Yelvah. Our daughter ran off into the arms of some harlot and you tell me I’m overreacting?”

Yelvah sighed cursing her chronic foot in mouth disease. “She called us Belle, She didn’t run away but she clearly wants to hide her girlfriend from us. We need to warn her that this tramp is just using her for her money or something.” Yelvah moved to hold Belle’s hands in her own interlacing their fingers. “Our daughter needs us.”

That seemed to calm Belle down as her sobbing stopped. “Just give me a little bit longer then we’ll go talk to her.”

Yelvah nodded. “Good. We won’t make the same mistake again.”

\-------

“And so I remembered your mom’s letter and left.” Perri finished describing how she got to Atlanta to an enraptured Steven. “Do you have any more questions about your Diamond side of the family?”

Steven thought. “Not right now but I’ll probably think of more soon.”

Perri couldn’t imagine what else the boy might want to know considering he had asked about New York City, Diamond Corp, the personalities of her whole family and every other detail about her side of his family. Still Perri understood his excitement. “I can give you my number and you can text me anything you want to know.”

“That would be great Perri.” Steven cheered. “I hope you like it here Atlanta.”

Perri pulled Lapis into a hug. “I already love it here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey did you know carpet is apparently essential during a pandemic? JK, it isn't but the company I work for sure seems to think it is. They layed us off this week but they said they'll play it week by week. Still they offered us the option to self-quarantine and I'm taking it. I know most of my co-workers will take it and I know how to fill in for like five other jobs. I'm not going to be running around doing multiple people's jobs so I'll take the quarantine. Anyway enough about the virus sorry this took awhile but where in the endgame I think I'll shoot for 10 chapters so I wanted to get my thoughts in order for the ending. Also Steven Universe is over sad to see it go but at least their are a lot of great shows out so I'm gonna give you guys my recommendations for good cartoons. Kipo age of the wonderbeasts, Legend Quest, Carmen Sandiego, The Owl House, Amphibia are some shows I love. Most are in between seasons so good time to check them out. Definitely check out Kipo and Legend Quest I don't see nearly the amount of people talking about those shows as they deserve. Anyway let me know what you think in the comments either about the fic or hell if the quarantine just got you feeling lonely. Stay safe my friends.


	9. negotiation

"Alright let's do this." Lapis said.

Perri pulled out a piece of paper and laid it on the table between them. "My list is right here."

Lapis smiled and pulled her own paper out. "Alright, let's compare and see if there's any overlap." Lapis laid out a blank third sheet of paper. "We'll write down our common kinks on this sheet."

"Very well. First and foremost we are both into bondage correct?" Perri asked, pointing out the first item on her list.

"Damn right." Lapis agreed. "What about BDSM, most people use the terms interchangeably but tying someone up is just a small part of BDSM."

Perri nodded. "Of course, bondage is just a part of BDSM. Anyway, yes I am very much down for it. I'm a submissive."

Lapis practically purred. "And I am a Dom. I can't wait to have you Perri-berry."

Perri laughed as she felt Lapis's bare foot slide up her leg under the booth. "Down girl. We still got a lot of kinks to go over before we play. Now I absolutely love to be spanked."

"And I love to spank girls with cute asses like yours. How about clamps?" Lapis asked.

"Nipples only. Temperature play?" Perri asked.

"Is that where you run ice cubes over your partner? I never did it before but I'd be down to try it. Now I know you're up for anal. Amethyst loved talking about how good taking you from behind was, I was just wondering do you prefer that over vaginal sex?" Lapis replied.

"Both are about the same for me. I suppose that brings up our little offer to Amethyst. How do you feel about having the occasional third?" Perri asked.

"So long as we know them and are both interested I'm down for it. Just no separate meetings. If they want to join us they join both of us." Lapis said.

Perri nodded. "I wouldn't want to have sex without you anyway Lapis. Should we invite Amethyst over to break in the dungeon?"

Lapis thought about it. "That would be fun. Yeah I'll check with her tonight and see if she'd be interested."

"Ok as for the safewords, how do you feel about using the traffic light system? Green for all good, yellow if it's a minor issue like a strap needing to be adjusted or just being in a kinda uncomfortable position, and red for full stop." Perri said.

"Yeah that way I could just ask you 'color' to make sure you're ok. Now how do you feel about exhibition or public play? You didn't seem to like getting caught by Pearl at all." Lapis asked.

Perri blushed at the memory. "It's complicated. I like the thrill of the possibility of getting caught but there's nothing sexy about actually getting caught. Like in a horror video game. It needs to be able to kill you but when the monster does kill you it kills the tension. Except in games you restart from the last save, that doesn't happen in real life." Perri explained.

"We'll put a pin in that and see if there's a way to work it out so you can enjoy the thrill but there's really no chance of getting caught." Lapis told her.

"I think that covers my kinks. Any other ones you already know about so I don't feel any need to go over them again here." Perri said.

"I agree. Plus we really need to get ready for our date." Lapis said.

Perri glanced up at the clock. "Well we do have about an hour before we need to go and talking about our kinks has got me kinda-" Perri pulled the collar of her shirt down revealing her collarbone. "Hot."

Lapis leaned over the table and kissed the nerdy girl. "Then maybe we should get you out of those clothes." She said seductively.

As the pair was about to head upstairs they heard a knocking on the door to the club. Perri groaned. "Doesn't that clod see the sign that we're closed."

Lapis sighed. "It's probably someone who forgot something. I'll tell them to fuck off baby. Why don't you get ready for me." Lapis said, kissing Perri tenderly.

Perri nodded and got up from the booth and headed backstage. Lapis watched her cute butt till it disappeared behind the door labeled 'employees only'. Lapis walked over to the and opened it. "We don't open till tonight dude, so can you fuck of….." Lapis froze as she looked up to see the towering woman before her. Tribal tattoos and long white hair.

"I need to talk to Perri." Jasper said glaring at Lapis.

Lapis slammed the door but Jasper stuck her foot inside. "Fuck off Jasper!" Lapis yelled, feeling panic raising in her heart.

"Look you don't have to talk to me at all but I can't be seen outside here." Jasper said. "You have to let me in."

"You can't be seen here because of the fucking restraining order I have aginst you bitch!" Lapis yelled.

"I'm here to help you." Jasper said. "Perri and you may be in danger."

Lapis paused but opened the door. Once Jasper was inside she closed it and glared at her Ex-girlfriend. "Wait. Right. Here."

Lapis walked off to go find Perri but Perri found her first as the blonde was sticking her head out of the 'employees only' door. "I heard you yelling is everything ok?"

Lapis sighed but pointed behind Perri. "Let's talk in the break room or something." She said walking through the door once Perri stepped aside.

Once the pair was inside the break room Lapis began to explain. "You remember my Ex I told you about?" Perri nodded. "She's here."

"Shit." Perri said, shocked. "What should we do."

"Normally I'd say throw her out on her ass but she says you're in danger." Lapis told her. "I know what she sounds like when she lies and she sounded like she was worried herself and if Jasper's worried we should be too. There's not a lot that she can't handle."

"Wait Jasper? As in Jasper Brooks?" Perri asked even more shocked.

"Yeah? How do you know her?" Lapis asked surprised Perri knew the biker.

"Your abusive ex, is my abusive ex!" Perri gasped.

"No way!?" Lapis yelled surprised.

"Small world right?" The pair turned to see Jasper in the doorway. "I mean I was shocked to even see Perri down here."

Lapis crossed her arms. "I told you to stay in the lobby by the door. Now Garnet is going to have to carry you much farther before she can throw your ass out."

Jasper stiffened at the heterochromatic girl's name. "You called her?" 

Perri knew Lapis had left her phone charging but knew a bluff when she saw one. "Yeah she called her as soon as she stepped away from you." Perri said, doubling down on Lapis's bluff.

"Then I don't have much time." Jasper said pulling out a chair farthest from the other women. She sat down backwards in it. "I came to warn you, Perri. I need to-"

Perri held her hand up for the biker to stop. "Just a second." She grabbed a can of hairspray, one thing about a strip club is one was never more than a few feet from various beauty products. She then pulled out a lighter. "Do you remember the ending to the original Metal Gear game?"

Jasper looked at the nerd and the hairspray pointed right at her. She chuckled. "Smart move. If you feel unsafe at any point you’ll fucking take a flamethrower to me. That is honestly badass, girl." 

"I've felt unsafe since I saw you at the door but I do feel better now that you're one dumb move from getting cremated." Lapis said dryly.

"Did you know I was in town when you saw me at the pizza place?" Perri asked, right hand on the lighter and left on the hairspray.

Jasper shifted nervously. "I did. Remember the night those bikers jumped you? Well that was me and my friends… no, lackeys is a better word."

Lapsi and Perri's eyes widen. "You attacked her?!" Lapis gasped.

"I was looking for you. I didn't know it was Perri at first and I called Sugilite and Obsidian off as soon as I realized. Hell I was about to call them off anyway. I just wanted to spook you into not doing donuts in my bar's parking lot." Jasper said.

"That's why they stopped when I said 'clod'". Perri said piecing it together. 

Jasper nodded. "Yeah, soon as I heard that I realized it was you."

"Why didn't you tell anyone Perri?" Lapis asked.

"I figured they wanted to just scare me. I thought that if I told everyone they'd be afraid and that would be exactly what they wanted." Perri reasoned before turning to face Jasper. "So Lapis is the abusive Ex you told me about, huh?"

Jasper nodded. "I told you I got worse after we broke up but Lapis was just as bad. Like a fucking wolverine when she gets pissed." Jasper accused.

"I’m pretty damn pissed right now Jasper but here I am sitting with a grumpy look on my face and that's all. Amethyst said you changed, thay you got a therapist and learned to control your anger but what do you think I've been doing?" Lapis sapt. "I did the exact same thing. I had issues. Lots and lots of issues but I got help and I'm a much better person now. Hell I even asked my therapist if she thought I was ready for a serious relationship after Perri asked me out and before I said yes. All I'm saying is you don't get to throw stones when you built a fucking mansion out of glass."

Jasper looked uncomfortable, withering under the women's combined glares. Eventually she sighed. "Perri, do you trust Lapis to never hurt you?"

Perri didn't hesitate. "I do. Lapis is not the same woman she was when you two were together. I can tell you changed as well Jasper, so even though I still don't fully know how to feel about you I trust you enough to hear you out. You said we were in danger."

"That's right. I was approached by someone who wants to make sure you and Lapis break up." Jasper explained.

"And you're against the ideal?" Lapis asked. "I assumed that's what you would want."

"I did want you two to break up, that's right. I was also hoping I could get back with Perri after your breakup but believe it or not there are people I hate more than you Lapis." Jasper said.

"And who could come after me. I hate to be the arrogant rich kid but like my grandma always said 'Us Diamonds are the strongest people in the world.' While that's a bit of a stretch, not many people would want to mess with my family." Perri pointed out.

"Unless it's another Diamond fucking with you. Whitney Diamond herself walked into my little dive bar." Jasper told them.

Perri was speechless for a minute until she finally spoke. "Damn."

"I take it that she is bad news." Lapis said concerned but lacking the background to know why.

"Whitney is Perri's grandmother and the matriarch of the family. She's the CEO of Diamond Inc and basically owns New York." Jasper told Lapis. "If she wants something done, it gets done no questions asked."

"She's also super concerned about keeping up appearances. She won't approve of me dating a stripper." Perri said.

"I hate that bitch. Back when me and Perri were dating she keeped Perri on such a tight leash it was disgusting. 'Wear this Perri, eat this, say that, agree to this.' Perri didn't get to decide anything on her own. And even when I was an abusive bitch you know how I felt about not letting people make their own decision." Jasper saw both her exes look at her incredulously. "What I let you make decisions like that time that-, wait no. How about-, no that was me too, or the time-,ah nevermind. I'll bring that up in my next therapy session." Jasper said, pulling out a small pocket notebook and writing down a reminder.

"Hell my parents still cower in fear from her. Belle stands up to her on occasion but Yelvah alway caves to her." 

"Still I think we can outsmart her. She thinks I'm on her side. I'll play along with her till we have a better ideal of her plan." Jasper said.

"So your plan is to wait till we can come up with a plan?" Lapis said skeptically.

"Oh and what's your plan, Water Bitch?" Jasper asked.

"That depends. What were you supposed to do for her?" Lapis asked.

"Find a good time for her to make her move." Jasper told her. "That's all the bitch would tell me."

Lapis smirked. "That's perfect. Let me tell you what I got."

\--------------

Amethyst yelped as icy hands touched her breasts. "Damn Aquamarine! Why are your hands always so cold."

Aquamarine continued her taking meusments. "Because my heart is just as cold dear. Now quite squirming unless you secretly enjoy my frosty fingers on your nipples."

"So you haven't answered me. Will you help us?" Amethyst asked.

"No, I have no interest in helping the club and honestly I couldn't care less about whether orphan children get adopted or not, if the perspective parents are gay or not dosen't matter at all to me." Aquamarine said.

"Damn you weren't kidding about the cold heart." Amethyst replied dryly.

"That said of course I will attend Ms. Diamond's pride march and help spread news of the club." The lingerie diva said.

"Wait… that's what I was asking." Amethyst said, confused.

"No you ask if I'd help you, which I won't. I will however help myself. Pride events are the perfect opportunity to expand my brand, after all lesbian couples by twice as many bras and panties. As for the club the more people who see you dance in my sexy products the more potential customers I get." Aquamarine said.

Amethyst shrugged. "Well I guess the reason doesn't matter, Perri just wanted me to ask people for help, so, mission accomplished."

\------------

Garnet's fist slammed into the heavy bag again and again as sweat dripped down her head. After twenty consecutive hits she asked. "Perri is organizing a Pride March to protest unjust adoption laws. You in?" She said before going back to the bag without waiting for a reply.

From her spot behind the bag Ruby nodded. "Hell yeah! That's perfect. Hey Saphy you coming right!" Ruby called out across the gym.

"Of course dear now stop interrupting my yoga class." Sapphire replied.

\---------

"Thank you so much for coming on this week's episode of 'Local Stars' Sour Cream." The radio host said to the young DJ.

"The pleasure is mine." Sour Cream replied.

"Now before we go are there any upcoming events you're looking forward to?" The host asked purposely steering the conversation towards the agreed upon final topic.

"Yeah. As I mentioned a lot of my music is inspired by my two loves Jenny and Buck. Well our little trio will be heading to event to raise awareness for the unjust adoption laws that make it significantly harder for same sex couples to adopt." Sour Cream said.

"Wow that's such a great cause. If our listeners want to join, what should they do?" The host asked.

"Just meet up at The Crystal Cove. It's a great place for adults of any sexuality or gender to enjoy some good company, awesome music and amazing dancers. That said the club itself will be closed and we will actually meet up outside the club so this event is totally family friendly." Sour Cream said as Buck and Jenny gave him encouragement from behind the glass separating the recording area from the sound engineer. "Just show up at 10AM Friday morning and one of the staff will take care of you."

\-----------

"-Our city is a pool of blue in a red desert. That's why I am happy that we can have demonstrations like the one on Friday." Mayor Dewey said in front of a sea of reporters. "Not just as the mayor but as the father of a bisexual young man. I wish the organizers of the event luck in exercising their rights and applaud them for their courage in standing up and making their voices heard." Dewey smiled as he heard the crowd applauding as he stepped away from the podium.

\-------------

Pearl stepped up to the receptionist desk of a local television network. "Hello. I'm here because I was told there was a 'complication' with our advertisement.:

After a moment the receptionist pointed to a door. "Door the hall on the left, Sweetheart. Mr. Richardson is waiting for you."

Pearl nodded and followed the woman's directions. Soon she knocked on the door labeled 'Richardson'.

"Come in, Come in!" A voice called and Pearl opened the door.

"Mr. Richardson I presume." She said to the middle aged man at the desk offering her hand to shake. "I am Weiss Pearl but please everyone calls me Pearl."

The older man smelled like cigarettes and cheap whiskey. "Ah yes. That's your stage name correct. You look lovely Ms. Pearl I bet you make a lot of money." The man said.

Pearl suppressed a shutter as the man leered at her. "I suppose I get by. Now I was under the impression that the advertising contract was already signed, all the paperwork done, and everything in order for the ad for the Crystal Cove to run tonight."Pearl said sitting down in a chair in front of the desk.

"Yes well. I'm afraid we had to pull the ad due to its overt sexual nature." Richardson said, also sitting in his leather office chair.

"Overt sexual nature. The ad simply informed the viewers we were an adult club with decades of history in the area, a few shots of our bar, and a shot of the front of the store with everyone waving at the camera. I fail to see anything 'overtly sexual' about that as did the government when their person reviewed the ad. Not to mention we paid to have it run exclusively on adult oriented channels late at night." Pearl said. "Our ad is far less sexual than any other club that advertises with you."

"Well other gentleman clubs have had to change ads due to content but our network decided that your ad was too sexual. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is." Richardson told her.

"Firstly we are not a 'gentleman's club' as we welcome everyone no matter sexuality or gender. Second I understand that unexpected things might happen Mr Richardson but my main concern is that the money has already exchanged hands. Will we be reimbursed for this? I think it's only fair that if we paid you to run our ad and you are telling me you can't run the ad we get our money back." Pearl asked.

"I'm sorry Ms. Pearl but money is out of my hands." Richardson said, smirking.

Pearl felt the urge to lean across the desk and smack that smirk and one of his additional chins off. She instead took a deep breath and asked. "Mr. Richardson I find it hard to believe that just a few hours before something inappropriate about our ad was suddenly discovered. Between us what is it that really happened?"

"Well you are correct that it wasn't just stumbled upon. A concerned citizen brought it to our attention." Richardson said while trying but failing to discreetly push a stack of paper over another paper. Pearl had failed to notice it at first due to the fact that the man's desk was practically laminated in loose papers. "Unfortunately I am not at liberty to discuss who it was or what she found."

"You are aware that our owner is a member of the Diamond family. Owners of Diamond Corp. Surely we could begin building close relationships between us and your network that would benefit both parties in the future." Pearl said. She really just needed to keep him talking till she could see that paper he was trying to hide.

"Yes and we were very happy to begin working with the Diamonds but I get the feeling that Ms. Perri Diamond is not speaking on behalf of Diamond Corp as a whole." Richardson, smirking even more now.

Despite how much Pearl hated talking to this smelly pervert her perseverance paid off. She saw a signature on the paper Richardson was trying to cover. To most it would be illegible squiggles but Pearl recognized it immediately. From what felt like a different life Pearl sapt out the name she hadn't said in over a decade. "Whitney Diamond."

Richardson sighed. "Alright you win, Whitney Diamond came and asked us to pull the ad. She even covered the fees and gave us a generous amount to cover lost revenue we would have made from the ad."

"So she bribed you?" Pearl asked.

"I suppose that's one way to say it yes. Still I'll tell you what Pearl we can work this out and get your ad back on the air." Richardson reassured her.

"Unfortunately my wallet isn't as deep as Whitney's nor are my morals as low." Pearl said standing up.

"Well that's the thing it won't cost you anything." Richardson said. "Look, you're a sexy lady and let's be real, I know what really happens in clubs like yours." He stood and unzipped his pants. "Give me a blow job and let me bend you over this desk and have some fun and we'll forget about Mrs. Diamond's offer." He said pulling his pants down and revealing his small dick.

"So if I let you fuck me your put our ad on air?" Pearl asked.

"That's right babe. I bet it's not the first time you used that sexy body to get what you- wait what are you doing?!" Richardson said as Pearl pulled her phone out and took a picture of him with his pants down and dick out like it was 2016 and Harambe had just died.

Pearl grabbed her purse and walked to the door ignoring Richardson as he called her every derogatory word he knew. "Lovely meeting you Mr  
Richardson. Please be expecting a call from our lawyers. It should show up as 'Zircon and Zircon Law Office'. We will be filling for breach of contract and I believe at least inappropriate exposure or maybe even some other form of sexual assault. Have a day as terrible as you are Mr. Richardson." Pearl said flipping him off as she walked out of his office.

\---------------

"Pearl said the T.V station was bribed by Whitney." Perri said, still staring at the text.

Lapis gently lowered Perri's arms forcing her to look up from her phone. "Babe, it's going to be ok. Let's just focus on having fun."

Perri nodded and stuffed her phone in her pocket. "Your right I'm not going to let all this ruin our first real date."

Lapis smiled taking their tickets from the lady at the booth. "That's my girl. Come on let's see if they let you pet stingrays, you can't be upset while petting a sea pancake."

Perri smiled at Lapis's excitement. "And people say I'm a dork. You know they killed Steve Irwin right?"

"Exactly, this is a diplomatic mission. We have to show the sea pancakes that we forgive them. It's what he would want." Lapis said, pulling her short girlfriend along. She was determined to make today fun for Perri. After all Lapis knew the following days would be anything but.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever to complete I was off work for a while because of this covid crap so I was planning to write a lot but every time I tried I just didn't feel any creativity. I've been messing with RPG maker trying to learn how to make a simple video game so any creativity I did have went to that. anyway where in the endgame now just a few more chapters and we'll be done. I think I may write a few oneshoots in this kinda AU but they'll be side stories to this one focusing on the other characters. anyway let me know what you thank and I hope you'll are staying safe out there.

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are people a another adventure in writing about stuff I have no experience with. Seriously though I hope you all like this. Also this chapter got dark but honestly that's probably as dark as it will get. Then again I have no real plan and am just winging this so who know I may pull a 'game of thrones' and kill everyone and make a terrible ending.


End file.
